Savior
by KotovSyndrome
Summary: Everybody needs a savior, even the savior himself. Naruto/Harem
1. Prologue

Hello to everyone reading this story, this will be my first one and I plan on it being long so please bear with me when I tell you it might be a long read.

Other than that here's the first chapter, Oh and all criticism is welcome whatever you reviewers have to say will help in the long run.

Disowner: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in said manga/anime if I did A LOT of things would be changed.

Key: "speaking"

'thoughts'

"**demon speaking"**

'**demon thoughts'**

Savior

Prologue

Everyone needs a savior to save them from themselves. This is true for most, but for one Naruto Uzumaki this is not the case. "Why?" you may ask; well today is October 10th, a day of celebration for the defeat of the Kyuubi no Yoko by the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Yet not everybody celebrates this holiday and there are specific reasons to that.

A boy, no older than 6, sat locked in his room, with little knowledge on what was happening on the outside world. You see today IS a day of celebration, but it is also a day of loathing, hatred, and discrimination.

The essence of the Kyuubi wasn't completely nullified from the village, but sealed in a small infant child that was just born. That boy happens to be the one locked in his room. All this loathing, hatrd, and discrimination is directed toward him, hence why he's completely isolated.

If you haven't figured it out yet, it's the boys birthday and today he is going to receive the worst beating of the year.

"Why?" the boy asked no one in particular.

"Why do they hate me?" he asked again, though he choked back a sob. "Did I do something wrong?"

These were the questions he asked himself everyday since last year. He never got an answer to these questions, only hateful glares, beatings, and verbal insults.

"I do nothing to them yet they glare at me, hit me, tell me I'm a 'demon' and that I shouldn't exist!" he said, a little anger and hatred present in his voice.

While contemplating these questions, a collaboration of people were huddled outside of his apartment waiting for the right moment to carry out their plan.

"Tonight we'll get the demon, ne?" a villager armed with a club asked.

"We will." responded a ninja of Jounin rank. "Our plan can't fail and this time we'll break the demon."

"What if it survives?" asked a female Jounin.

"Then instead of it's life being taken, it's sanity will be destroyed." the male Jounin said with the most devious smirk he could muster.

END OF PROLOGUE

Well here's the prologue and I guarantee you I'm continuing this story.

"He will I guarantee it"

What the hell, is….is that you Naruto?

"You betcha."

Great my imagination is coming to life, just what I need right now.

"Hey, you know you like me that's why you decided to do a Fanfic on my series."

As true as that is Naruto, your still my imagination it'll be like I'm talking to myself.

"But you're not, you're talking to me, plus I'm a figment of someone else's imagination so it's normal."

You….You know that actually makes sense, alright you can be my disclaimer from now on how does that sound."

"That's sounds awesome, Dattebayo!"

God I hope this doesn't get worse, anyways till next time, Laters.


	2. Discovery

Hello again, how's everybody?

Yep I'm summiting a new chapter on the same day, though this one took me a while. I don't know why but my imagination sparked and it told me to write and type more…..or maybe that was Naruto.

"Yep it was me."

I should have guessed, well thanks for the inspiration…you're a very inspirational person.

"I am? I never thought I could be, I just do what comes to mind."

Ok don't overdo yourself, you're inspirational and all but you're not Kami.

"How do you know I'm not, I could be."

Well for one aren't you like 4'9, two you're currently six years old, and three you where an orange jumpsuit.

"…."

Don't be like that I'm just-

WHAM!

Oww what the hell…that actually hurt

"Serves you right!"

Why you little….Gah come here!

"AH! Sorry folks but I got to split oh and KotovSyndrome does not own Naruto or the characters in Naruto, AH! Enjoy the chapter!"

"speaking"

'thoughts'

"**demon speaking"**

'**demon thoughts'**

Chapter 1: Discovery

"I should hate them, but Ojii-san (grandfather), he told me to never give in…but it's so hard not to!" screamed the now teary-eyed boy

As soon as he screamed his comment the front door to his apartment exploded off it's hinges.

"!" the startled boy yelled, he knew today he would be beaten, but to do something as extreme as using explosives.

The group of ninja and villagers stormed in his apartment looking for the object of their desires. They were tearing apart the walls, flipping the little furniture the boy had until they found him or in their minds "it."

The little boy huddled into a corner furthest away from his bedroom door, pulling his knees up to his chest, he closed his eyes, praying to Kami that the people raiding his apartment would disappear from existence.

Kami would not be on his side tonight, because without warning the door to his bedroom was kicked downed. The little boy dry to back further into the corner as if the wall would somehow absorb him. Into his room walked in a man of average height, he wore Jounin attire, and in his hand was a katana.

"We finally found you." stated the male Jounin softly but menacingly.

"What do you want…(sob)…what have I ever done to you?" the boy cried, his deep blue eyes producing tears uncontrollably.

"What do we want?" questioned the male Jounin, "We want to be rid of you, you demon!" he yelled "You can't escape now like the other times, you'll receive EVERYTHING that's coming to you."

With that said the Jounin readied his katana above the boys head, his hands tightening on the handle. "NOW DIE!" he yelled and brought it down to cleave the boys head down the middle.

At this moment time slowed down, and for some reason the boy was no longer in his destroyed apartment, but in a sewer-like area.

The floor was flooded to where the water was up to the boys ankles.

"I have to help him!" came a booming voice from afar.

The boy jumped at the sound of the voice, but he was not necessarily frightened. 'help who?' he thought. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed the sound of the voice, which kept repeating the same statement.

"I have to help him!" the sound of the voice grew louder with each step the boy took. Next thing he knew he was in front of a large cage. 'W-what could be in there?'

"I have to help him!" this time as the proclamation was said the area shook vigorously, causing the boy to stumble to the ground with a splash.

"Who's there?" yelled the voice menacingly.

The boy did not dare to speak, he just stared at the cage awaiting what would happen. Appearing out of the darkness of the cage, two frightening eyes stared directly into those of the boys. Fear immediately struck him, both of the eyes were the with and length of the cage but the most frightening aspect was that they were the deepest shade of red imaginable.

"Naruto?" the booming voice asked.

"Y-yes?" the boy now known as Naruto, was absolutely terrified.

"Don't be frightened, I won't hurt you." the voice said but this time it sounded softer.

"B-but how do I know you won't, y-you're probably j-just saying that to let down m-my guard." the feeling of fear slowly began dissipating within the boy and a little confidence began to overtake his being.

The big eyes of the being within the cage suddenly disappeared, this time smaller crimson eyes found there way through the darkness and into the light. "Naruto-kun I couldn't hurt you even if I tried, now please don't be afraid." the voice pleaded this time sounding more feminine.

Trying his best to shake the remaining fear off, Naruto dragged himself up from the ground and cautiously began walking toward the cage. Closer and closer he got to the cage until he stopped, now he was face to face with the alluring crimson eyes.

"H-how do you know my name?" Naruto asked

"I know it because I've known you ever since you were born." the voice answered

Naruto's blue eyes widened a bit in surprise. "But how have you known me that long, I've never seen you before in my life."

"It's because I'm not apart of the outside world, I'm a part of you and I have been for six years." the soft voice explained "I know it's hard to believe but you have to trust me."

'Apart of me?'

"So are you…me?"

The eyes became downcast and retreated back into the darkness leaving the small boy confused. Suddenly a bright crimson light illuminated the inside of the cage, blinding Naruto, forcing him to cover his eyes.

As quickly as the light came it dissipated, only leaving little traces of its presence throughout the cage. Naruto uncovered his eyes and stared intently at the cage, as he saw a feminine figure slowly walk toward him. Unable to make out any details he squinted his eyes to better his vision. Upon doing so, flowing red hair came into his vision as well as a red kimono.

The figure drew closer and more details came into view.

'A woman?' Naruto thought, flowing red hair, a red kimono that hugged her curves, a face that could make Kami blush, yea that's a woman.

"No Naruto-kun, I'm what causes you pain, I'm the reason you get glares from those accursed villagers, I'm the reason you get yelled at and verbally taunted, I'm the reason you get beatings almost everyday, I am the Kyuubi no Yoko and you Naruto-kun are my container." the woman known as the Kyuubi explained in a saddened voice

'W-what?' Naruto was beyond shocked at this to say the least, but through the shock came tears. 'I-I'm the container of the Kyuubi, b-but why? Why me?' Anger and sadness began working it's way up the child. "Y-you….they hate me because of you!" he yelled

The woman flinched at the tone of the blonds voice, tears began to form in her eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry." she was now crying "I see how they treat you, I see it..through your eyes. Every time they've beaten you until your body was broken, every time they've taunted you and insulted you, I've seen it and I've tried my best to make sure you wouldn't become broken."

"W-what?" Naruto's anger diminished

"All those times you were beaten to an inch of your life, I've healed you, you deserve none of this and I wont allow you to die under something you have no control over." the 'Kyuubi' held back sobs through her speech but the tears would not stop.

The blonde boy was speechless, the most terrifying creature known to man was apologizing and on top of that has saved his life on many occasions in the past. A new emotion took place of the anger, the feeling of forgiveness overran the boys being. He slowly reached through the bars and grabbed a handful of the woman's kimono and tugged on it lightly. "It's ok Kyuubi…."

Her eyes widened a bit, albeit tears coming from them. "W-what?" she choked out.

"I forgive you and Arigato…for saving me as many times as you did, I wouldn't be here without you." a small smile broke out on his face.

Kyuubi was awestruck by what the blonde said, she hadn't expect forgiveness let alone appreciation for her past actions. 'N-no one would forgive so easily, yet…'

"Arigato…for forgiving me." the bars that caged the being began to dissipate until they were nonexistent, and without warning Naruto ran up and enveloped the woman in a hug.

Again she was awestruck, but nonetheless she returned it with no hesitation. "Naruto-kun it's time to go back."

"Will I see you again?' the child questioned

"You will, but for now you have to go back." with that said Kyuubi withdrew from the embrace a bit and planted a kiss on the blonde's forehead.

The contact caused a new feeling to engulf Naruto, unknown to him powerful chakra was coursing through his system as he was sent back to reality.

"NOW DIE!" yelled the Jounin as he brought his katana down on the boy.

"NO!" Naruto yelled as crimson chakra blasted outward from his body, causing the Jounin to be flung back against the wall which cracked on contact.

The villagers and the ninja raiding the house stopped there actions and walked cautiously toward the doorway. Upon looking into the room fear struck there beings, for right in front of them was a small blond child with crimson red eyes, and defined whisker marks on his cheeks, as well as to red fox ears on his head, and a single crimson chakra tail flailing behind him.

"LEAVE NOW!" yelled Naruto in a very demonic voice, which complimented his demonic features.

"I-It's going to kill us!" screamed a villager as he ran out of the apartment with few others following close behind. The only people remaining were the unconscious male Jounin and the female Jounin.

"I have to kill it before it destroys the village!' yelled the female Jounin, whom started doing hand signs.

"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu (Fire style: Dragon Fire)!" flames shot out of the kunoichi's mouth and were sent flying toward the demonized boy.

'Naruto,' with speed ungodly, dodged the stream of fire and reappeared right above the woman's head. He brought his foot down in an axe kick, striking her in the head and forcing her to the ground, unconscious.

The demonic chakra began to disappear and Naruto's eyes returned to their deep blue shade. The now normal Naruto fell on the floor barely conscious, the only thought on his mind was how he received such enormous power from simply nowhere. That's when he remembered the kiss from the crimson haired woman, and he subconsciously rubbed his forehead.

"Arigato…Kyu-chan." he softly thanked before losing all consciousness.

END CHAPTER 1

Well here's chapter 1, I thought I wrote much more than this….

"I thought you did too…maybe you should write more"

You know, I think your inspiration is starting to wear off Naruto

"I don't think so, maybe you're just lazy"

You see now that's not true, I'm active plus I work almost daily

"Then quit your job, it'll make everything easier."

No, I need money and why are you making decisions for me!

"Because I have an awesome demon in me and you don't, that makes me superior"

….I'll show you SUPERIOR!

"AHH! Gotta run folks till next time."


	3. Inspiration

Hello people, I'm back again with a new chapter. Listen, I know the Kyuubi is suppose to be an evil entity and not particularly a guardian of sorts, but in all of the story that I've read off the site involving the Naruto series the Kyuubi is always looked at as an antagonist. I know that's how the story goes in the manga/anime but if you think about it the Kyuubi is an indirect guardian. So I just wanted to make the story different from what you're use to that's all. I respect those readers who think otherwise and I want to thank you for giving 'Savior' a quick read. For those of you who are still keeping track of this story, it's going to be a long read. I originally planned it to be about 20 chapters, but my imagination is telling me otherwise. So as of the moment it's probably going to be more than that. Also I have a prequel to this story in mind, and if you keep on reading you'll see why.

"Good explanation Kotov-san"

Thank you….wait I thought I got rid of you!

"you can try but in the end you can't"

….*sigh* alright, well do you want to disclaim it…

"Heck yea! Kotov-san does not own Naruto or any of the characters in the series, enjoy the new chapter!"

Chapter 2: Inspiration

'Wha…?' Naruto mentally asked, wondering where he was as he opened his eyes.

"Where am I?" he whispered, looking around the room which was painted all white with only one window to look out of. 'Wait a minute…all white room, one window,' he looked down at himself only to find himself outfitted in a teal shirt and pants.

'I'm in the hospital!' he mentally screamed, Kami how he hated hospitals.

'**Naruto-kun it's alright, you're not injured, you were just exhausted and passed out.' **came a voice in a the little blonde's head.

'Wait…Kyuubi?'

'**The one and only!' **she happily stated

A grin found its way onto Naruto's face, 'Arigato Kyu-chan, for saving me.'

'**Ana wa kangei shite iru (your welcome).' **she answered. (A/N that's a long 'your welcome' jeez)

"Naruto?" spoke an elderly man standing in the doorway. He dressed in long white robes that had the kanji for 'Hokage' written on the back of them, and on his head was a hat to match the attire.

"Ojii-san!" Naruto yelled, he leapt out of his bed and engulfed his 'grandfather' in a deep hug.

"How are you feeling?" asked the Hokage as he hugged the blond boy back.

"I feel a lot better Ojii-san!" stated the Naruto; showcasing his foxy grin.

"That's good Naruto…now," the Hokage's face turned serious, "what happened to you last night? My Anbu found you unconscious in your apartment which was completely destroyed?"

"Well Ojii-san… I was trying to perform a new jutsu when it suddenly backfired and knocked me unconscious." he lied

"Hmmm," the Hokage's face now retained a calm characteristic "We also retrieved two unconscious Jounin from your apartment, why's that?" he asked calmly

"Uh…well." the blonde couldn't really lie to those facts.

"Naruto, you were attacked again weren't you?" After about a minute of indecision Naruto nodded his head.

"And you rendered those Jounin unconscious too?" again Naruto nodded his head.

"How did you defeat two Jounin level ninja"

"It's kind of hard to explai-"

"Hokage-sama!" a new voice yelled. Both the Hokage and the little blonde looked at the doorway to find a frail looking woman standing in its frame.

"Yes?" asked the old man

"The council has requested an audience with you, they want you in the council chambers immediately." claimed the woman.

"Ok, I'll be there momentarily."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." the woman bowed and left the room.

"Ojii-san?" Naruto asked wondering what was going on at the moment.

"Gomen (Sorry) Naruto, but I must leave, you've been released from the hospital and you can leave when you're ready." and with that said the 'old man' vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sigh… 'Kyu-chan?'

'**Yes Naruto-kun?'**

'Is there any way that…that you can train me to control your chakra?' asked Naruto

'**Naruto-kun I…I can but your body isn't developed well enough to take in much of my chakra, last night I gave you a very small amount and you passed out as soon as it wore off.' **

"Well…when will I be ready to train with your chakra?"

The Kyuubi remained silent for second, as if she were thinking. A few moments passed and she finally spoke again **'I would say when you're at the age of twelve, I think then your chakra coils will be developed enough to take in a decent amount of my chakra.' **she answered.

'NANI! (What!)' Naruto nearly screamed out loud 'that's six years from now Kyu-chan.' he thought with a pout adorning his face.

'**I know Naruto-kun and I'm sorry but I won't risk harming you or even worse…killing you.'** she explained

'…ok Kyu-chan and Arigato, I'll wait" he thought, smiling.

'**Your welcome Naruto-kun.' **she said while mentally smiling back.

MEANWHILE….

Outside the border of Iwagakure…

A man was currently surrounded by multiple Iwa-nin, with what seems to be no escape.

"Give up now!" yelled a Jounin Iwa-nin, making him the supposed leader of the group "You can't escape while we have you surrounded!"

"Well.." the man started "If you guys are really askin' for a fight, then I will oblige." he said with a calm voice.

"Come on now" exclaimed the Iwa-nin "your outnumbered, you can't win." confidence clearly present in his voice.

"You know, numbers don't mean anything if the skill isn't up to par." the man stated "Now I'll offer you one more chance, please leave me be and there will be no harm done to any of you."

"We won't-kaagh" without warning the supposed leader of the group was sent flying backwards by a kick. The Nin crashed into a few trees, breaking them in half, until he finally hit a large boulder which completely stopped his body.

"Taichou!" the other Iwa-nin yelled. "Get him!" the remaining Iwa-nin charged forward with katanas, wakizashis, and kunais at the ready.

The stranger pulled out a weapon of his own, he unsheathed it and began twirling it in his hand. Lightning began dancing on his blade and around his body. "Raiton: Rairyu no Tatsumaki (Lightning style: Lightning Dragon Tornado)" as soon as those words left his mouth he swung his weapon diagonally causing a tornado made out of said element to rush forward at the Nins. The charging group had no escape as they were caught in the deadly lightning vortex. Yells and screams were emitted from there mouths as the element severely burned and electrocuted them.

As the jutsu died down bodies began littering the floor. They were either charred to the point where the skin was black labeling them dead, or steam was emitting from them labeling them unconscious.

"Man.." the unknown figure sighed "When will people understand to take my warnings seriously."

'**Well, maybe they shouldn't underestimate you.' **cooed a rather feminine voice in the mans head.

"Hmmm, I suppose you're right…I tried to be nice but I guess they took it for granted." said the man calmly, "maybe I should be colder toward people." the man shrugged.

'**Don't do that koibito (beloved or lover) your kindness is the reason I fell in love with you, along with many other attributes.'** the feminine voice teased.

"Hey, you know I aim to please you, kanojo (beloved(female) or girlfriend)." the man teased back.

'**I know you do.' **the voiced said happily

"I think it's about time I return home, Karma is definitely going to bite me in the ass for not taking care of my otouto (little brother)."

'**Koibito, you were protecting him from your family's enemies, so don't say that.' **

"I know, but I mean being there for him, as a big brother." the man said sadly

'**He'll understand.' **the voice said, trying to comfort the man.

"…I love you." a smile formed on his face.

'**I love you too.' **the voice happily stated.

The man turned his body toward the road leading out of Iwagakure "And now we begin the long journey home." he pouted

'**You know, you can be there in two seconds'**

"Yea…but I need to check on a few things before I actually go home, and it turns out that these things are on the same path." with that said the man began to walk in the direction of his birthplace

END CHAPTER 2

That…sort of hurt my fingers, I've never typed this much, even in school.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that much."

Hey, yea it was, why don't you try typing all that I've written.

"No."

And why not?

"Because I don't wanna."

….you're unbelievable for a six year old.

"I'm not! I just don't like typing."

What about-

"No, I hate writing too."

You know, if you want to be Hokage you're going to have to do paperwork, that means A LOT of writing

"I'll manage."

Mhmm and if you don't?

"Then I'll make you do it."

What…no absolutely not, you couldn't make me even if you tried pipsqueak

"Who are you calling pipsqueak!"

You, short stuff

WHAM!

OWWW! What the hell was that?

"My fist."

You little piece of shi-"

WHAM!

OWWWW! That's it you're gonna get it…say hello to my little friend.

"W-what is t-that?"

Oh nothing, just a machine gun

"Wha-Ahhh!"

HAHAHA dance pipsqueak, dance…Oh stay tune for the next chapter to 'Savior' and please if you want to comment on the story feel free to, you're criticism will help me in the long run. Till next time, this KotovSyndrome saying "laters."


	4. Return

Here we are once again with another chapter to 'Savior.' God I need to slow down my pace, I'm going to have 4 chapters…err an epilogue and 3 chapters in and it's not even the end of the week.

"I think you should keep going at your pace."

And I don't give a crap about what you think.

"Ok I'm starting to think you don't like me."

No…no I like you, hell you're my favorite character out of the whole "Naruto" series.

"Then why don't you care about what I think?"

Well let's see…for starters you hit me numerous times in the span of 3 chapters, two you plan to bombard me with your paperwork when your Hokage, and three…you're short.

"Hey! I am not short!"

If 4'9 isn't short then I don't know what is.

"…."

That's what I thought, anyways I hope you enjoy the new chapter, Naruto care to disclaim it

"Kotov-baka does not own Naruto or the characters of the series…"

Oh come on don't be upset

"…."

Fine, be like that.

Chapter 3: Return

3 years later…

"Naruto!" yelled a pink-haired girl "You're such a baka, stop annoying me!"

"Sorry Sakura-chan, I was just trying to help you out." the blonde haired, blue-eyed boy apologized with a foxy smile adorning his face.

"Really now…?" the girl known as Sakura-chan asked with sarcasm laced in her voice.

"Yep!" his smile widened

"Well you can help me BY STAYING OUT OF MY WAY!" she yelled again

Naruto's smile faltered, and his eyes became downcast, "Ok…Sakura…" sadness was almost present in his voice, but he held it back. He slowly turned around and began walking in the direction of his apartment.

The pinkette stood there for a moment, staring at the back of the blonde's head as he walked away. 'Did…did he look sad?' The pink-haired girl has never seen the boy sad before, he was always happy and he acted like nothing bad ever happened. But now, when she looked directly at him, she could have swore she saw sadness creep up on his face. 'It must be my imagination…he's never taken my insults that hard before.' deciding to shrug it off as her imagining things she turned in the opposite direction and began walking to her destination.

'You know Kyu-chan, me and Sakura use to be best friends, but now…now she acts like I'm the plague.' stated the blonde in his mind; sadness laced within it.

'**I know Naru-kun, but it isn't your fault.'** Kyu-chan said, trying to comfort the little boy.

'I know, but I swore to always be there for her…I don't know if I can do that anymore.'

'**Naru-kun you can still be there for her, don't give up.' **

'I'll try Kyu-chan, but I don't know how much longer I can keep up this mask.' Naruto stated on a tone that finalized the conversation.

At Konoha's Main Gates…

"Halt…state your business." ordered both shinobi guards sternly.

"Just passing through, buddy." stated the stranger in a jovial tone.

"If you have no business here then we cannot let you pass without proper authority." the now annoyed guard stated.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't turn around and walk away…so can we come to some sort of compromise." the stranger asked calmly.

"We will not! You either leave or we force you to!" Both guards got into a defensive taijutsu stance

'And this is what I get for being nice, Hima-chan your encouraging words are starting to lose their touch.' the man sighed while rubbing the back of his head.

'**Well…' **the feminine voice now labeled as Hima-chan started **'Maybe I should use encouraging actions.' **she stated while adding a mental wink.'

"Uh…well that would be nice." the man blushed 'Wait why am I blushing, I say way more dirtier things to you!' the man mentally yelled.

'**Think what you want koibito, but I'm the one who dominates our sex life.' **she teased.

"WHAT! YOUR JOKING, RIGHT!" the man yelled aloud in slight embarrassment, yet his tone sounded argumentative.

'**Maybe…' **she teased again

'Just wait kanojo, I'll get you back and then we'll see who dominates our sex life.'

"Hey bastard!" the man was thrown out of his thoughts "Either stay and face the consequences or leave without injury." the guard stated with confidence.

"I'm afraid I have to stay…but I guarantee you I won't be facing any consequences." that's when a devious smirk appeared on the strangers face. "Neko Kibou no Jutsu (Cat Semblance Technique)." he whispered.

A few seconds of silence ensued, until the stranger began to snicker. A few more seconds passed and the snickering evolved into full out laughter.

"What are you laughing at!" yelled the two guards in unison.

"Hahaha…you two…hahaha….look at yourselves!"

Both guards looked at each other in confusion, and in that moment both of their eyes widened "Y-you look l-like a giant cat!" they yelled again in unison, all the while pointing at each other. "What the hell did you do to-" the once confident guard was interrupted as he found out that the stranger had disappeared.

"Hehe, that was priceless" the strangers face turned serious, "but now it's time to get down to business, I need to talk to the old man about my otouto."

'**Do you think he'll recognize you?' **came the voice of Hima-chan

'In all honesty, I don't think so…the last time he saw me was when I was twelve."

'**Hmmm…good point.' **

In Naruto's apartment….

'Well starting tomorrow I'll keep my distance from her.' Naruto said solemnly

"**Are you sure you want to do that Naruto?" **questioned Kyuubi

'You heard what she said, she wants me out of the way…might as well do what she says if it makes her happier.' sadness was clearly evident in her voice

"**Why do you cause yourself so much pain?" **Kyuubi questioned again

'Because happiness isn't something that I can have, so I try to make others happy…so they won't feel the way I do.' was the small blonde's answer.

Kyuubi found herself speechless, what could she really say to that? So much pain and unjust the small blonde had to endure yet… he tries to shrug it off to make others happy. But the most shocking part to his answer, was that he believes he can't be happy. Tears began falling down the woman's face and in one swift motion hugged the small blonde.

"**Naru-kun…don't ever think that you can't be happy, if anything you deserve happiness." **

Naruto slowly hugged back "Arigato Kyu-chan for believing that." a small smile formed on the blonde's face "and arigato…for giving me true happiness."

Kyuubi's eyes shot open briefly, before closing again as she tightened the embrace.

In the hokage tower…

'How does this paperwork accumulate so fast!' the old hokage thought. It seems every time he finishes a stack of the accursed paperwork a new stack appears out of thin air.

"Hmmm…I can see you still don't know how to defeat paperwork old man." a voice said from behind the Hokage.

"And I can see you snuck in here without setting off an alarm."

"Indeed, it seems we both have great perception." the stranger joked

"I agree…now tell me, what do you plan to do next?" the Hokage asked cautiously

"I just want to talk." was the strangers simple answer

The Hokage swiftly turned around in his chair to catch a glimpse of stranger and upon seeing the figure his eyes widened significantly, "M-Minato?"

'I knew he wouldn't remember…ah well he was close enough'

"Hehe…there's no way I'm my father, he died nine years ago." the stranger exclaimed.

Hearing that his answer was wrong, the old Hokage took more time in inspecting the man. He sported a white cloak that looked a lot like his supposed 'father's' the only difference was that it sported gold flames on the trim of the sleeves and the trim of the bottom. Underneath he wore a black Jounin vest with white trim laced along the frame and pouches that adorned the piece of clothing. To match the vests color he had on baggy black shinobi pants and black combat boots. Fingerless black gloves were fitted on his hands, which seemed to have metal plating on each individual knuckle. He stood a good six feet give or take a couple inches, and he had spiky blond hair that stopped at the back of his neck. Last but not least he had piercing sapphire eyes that could probably see into your very soul.

Absorbing every detail of this man the Hokage's eyes widened a bit more "T-Tatsu?"

"Yep, it's me Ojii-san" the now known Tatsu said with a smile

"You've returned? But why?" the old man asked curiously, although he was still shocked

"I've completed my task, so now I'm here and this time for good."

Konoha's leader stayed silent for a moment before asking another question "Is there a specific reason you've come to see me?"

"Well for one, I wanted to see you because you're still my Ojii-san even if we're not directly related, secondly I need to know where my otouto lives." Tatsu stated happily

"You mean Naruto?"

"Of course I mean him, he's the only brother I have." he stated happily again with a smile on his face.

"He…he lives in the slums Tatsu, right outside the market district." the Hokage stated

"W-what, why does he live there?" Tatsu's smile faltered, an expression of disbelief fitted his face.

"Tatsu, he hasn't had an easy life…that was the only kind of shelter he could afford-"

"Afford, he shouldn't be affording things…Ojii-san what's happened to him, what have I missed in my absence?" the tall blonde pleaded desperately.

"…Naruto has been living in an apartment of his own since he was five, he was kicked out of the orphanage for being… 'different,' he's been beaten and verbally abused ever since." explained the Hokage.

"W-what." again he was in a state of disbelief. How could he be beaten, how could he be talked down to. He's a hero, not some outcast that deserves nothing but pain. Anger filled Tatsu's being 'This place…has been a living hell for him, and all because he's the container of the Kyuubi…'

"How could you let this happen to him…" the tall blonde's was low and accusing "Why would you allow such things to happen to a child?"

"Tatsu understand this" the old man's voice was stern "Just because I'm Hokage, does not mean I have limitless power and authority. The village council has the final say in decisions made by me, so when it came to Naruto there was very little I could do for him." the Hokage paused for a moment before continuing, "I gave him an allowance and a home but that was all I could do."

Upon hearing his explanation Tatsu's anger subsided 'He's right…at least he gave him some sort of support while all I did was leave, making him fend for himself.' a feeling of guilt shot through his heart 'I need to go visit him, I need to be there for him.' with that thought in mind the tall blond disappeared in a flash of white.

The sun finally set in the horizon labeling the time of day as the 'afternoon,' Naruto was currently seated in his favorite ramen, Ichiraku's. Now any other day he would inhale his ramen and it would be gone in a matter of two seconds, but with the event that happened today all he could so was stir the noodles with his chopsticks.

"Naruto, is everything ok?" came the worried voice a brown-haired woman. She wore a white robe with the sleeves folded, along with the robe she wore a blue apron which had white ribbon ties attached to the top of it. Finally she had a white bandanna tied to her forehead.

"Everything's fine Ayame-neechan." Naruto plastered a fake smile on his face. Unfortunately for him, Ayame has become accustom to telling which smile was real and which one was fake.

"If there's something wrong, you can tell me." she said calmly

"…Have you ever had someone you liked, tell you to stay out of the way?" Naruto asked in a melancholic tone.

This question surprised Ayame a bit but she knew how to answer it, "No…but there was someone I liked that disappeared from the village, I never got the chance to tell him how I felt and till this day it still haunts me." she explained.

Naruto looked up from his bowl and directly at the face of the young woman. Tears were threatening to drop from her eyes and her expression was one of longing.

"I see…gomen, for bringing up bad memories."

"N-no you didn't, I just wanted to show you that I have felt your pain, but in a different sense." she smiled albeit tears falling from her eyes.

All Naruto could do was smile. He smiled because Ayame knew what it was like to practically lose someone to unknown causes.

"Arigato Ayame-neechan, for understanding." the small blonde quickly gulped down his meal and got down from the stool, "Goodbye nee-chan and tell Teuchi-jiisan I said to get better!" with that said Naruto ran out of the stand in the direction of his apartment.

Unknown to him a figure watched the exchange from a nearby rooftop, only to disappear in pursuit of the little blonde.

END CHAPTER 3

You know…I really liked that chapter.

"Why…?"

Because it was dramatic, and I'm not really good at writing dramatic things.

"Oh…"

Oh come on Naruto, I didn't really mean what I said.

"Sure…"

Ok, what do I have to do to make it up to you.

"Hmmm….be nicer to me.'

….I don't think I can agree to that.

"Why?"

Because if I start being "nice" to you, you'll take advantage of it.

"And how do _you_ know."

I just do…

"So you know everything?"

I never said that.

"That's what it sounded like to me"

Well you're six, of course it would sound like that.

"Hey! I'm not six anymore, I'm nine."

No you're….ah crap you are.

"Ha, so you can't make fun of my age anymore."

Maybe not…but you're still short.

"…."

What?

WHAM!

"That'll teach you to make fun of my height!"

….

"Umm Kotov-san?"

….

"Ah man, I didn't mean to hit him that hard…sorry folks but It looks like Kotov-san is unconscious; I didn't know I could hit that hard, anyway he'll probably be awake in time to put in a new chapter…stay tune for the next installment of 'Savior.'


	5. Family

Hi everybody, we're back once again with another chapter to 'Savior.' Before you start reading I just want to take the time to thank all the members and non-members of fan fiction for taking time in reading my story.

"You mean our story, right?"

Our…story? You haven't helped in any way, shape, or form in producing the piece so why should I give you credit.

"Because if I didn't exist-"

But you don't! You're a projection of someone's imagination.

"But that means I exist within you're mind."

…..Since when were you all sage-like?

"Since I became nine yesterday."

But you're still a child.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

It means that you shouldn't be sage-like…you should be child-like.

"I know, but it doesn't hurt to be smart once in a while."

True, but I think a 'while' in you're terms is a veeeerrry long time.

"…..Why can't you just be nice to me."

Because you throw it right back in my face if I do.

"You don't know that, come on just try to."

No…

"Please!"

No…

"Please?"

NO! Now just disclaim the damn story already.

"Fine, Kotov-baka does not own Naruto or any of the characters in the series…and he's a baka."

Hey! I heard that.

Chapter 4: Family

'He hasn't had an easy life.' the Hokage's words repeated in Tatsu's head like a broken record. 'And to think I was protecting him….I shouldn't have left him here…_I_ shouldn't have left.' he thought with guilt piercing his heart.

'**Don't blame yourself koibito, if you hadn't left then think of the problems you would be facing now.' **Hima-chan said trying to reassure her lover.

'Yea, but….he was still harmed…by the people of his birthplace…and I wasn't there to protect him.'

'**Tatsu-kun, you can't always be there for him…your brother is strong, he doesn't give up.'**

'But…he shouldn't have been on his own.' sadness was still ever so present in his thoughts.

'**He won't be anymore, you're here now.' **

That lightened up his mood a bit 'You're right, and I'm going to make sure he doesn't have to suffer anymore.'

'I've never seen Ayame-neechan cry before, she must have really liked this person.' Naruto thought as he put his hands behind his head.

'**I don't think "like" is the right word to use in her situation.'** the Kyuubi stated

'What do you mean Kyu-chan?'

'**I believe she was in "love" with him Naru-kun." **she said sweetly

"In…love?" the small blonde became confused almost instantly.

'**Yes, this man has affected her more than you can believe. They must have had an unbreakable bond before he disappeared, something that took time to build. I also believe she still loves him and I doubt that that emotion will change.'**

'So…they consider each other precious to one another?' the blonde asked with slight understanding but overall confusion.

'**That's a good way to explain it, but for now you should pay attention to where you're going, you're almost at your apartment.' **she reminded.

'Ok, see you in a bit Kyu-chan' with that said the mental link shared between the two was cut. The small blonde found himself walking down a familiar street, one that wasn't particularly his favorite. Children were laughing and playing in the playground nearby as their parents sat across from the area on benches smiling at their children's laughter. Naruto's calm demeanor began to falter. Family wasn't a word in the small blondes dictionary; yes, he does have people who care for him but there is no true definition of the word 'family' to him.

He quickened his pace to get out of the area that seemed to cause him pain, he was almost to his neighborhood and he could see his apartment complex from afar, the only problem was that there was a group of people stationed outside of the building.

'I guess it's _that _time of day again…' was the only thought that went through Naruto's mind as he closed in on the complex.

To make matters worse the people waiting were not villagers. Upon closer inspection by the small blonde he made out a tattoo on each of there arms. 'Anbu? But why would they be here, Ojii-san would never allow them to hurt me.' his eyes widened significantly.

Upon Naruto's arrival the Anbu turned their heads toward the boy, masks covered there faces only leaving Naruto to stare at their animalistic features. "Halt, Naruto Uzumaki you are to come with us immediately." came the monotone voice of an Anbu with a bear mask.

"Why?" asked the confused Naruto.

"It's under orders of the council." answered the bear-masked Anbu.

'The council? But they never bother with me, why would they now?'

'**Naru-kun.' **Kyuubi called out from Naruto's mindscape.

'Yea Kyuu-chan?'

'**These Anbu…are not who you think they are.' **she stated.

'What do you mean, they have the tattoo of the Anbu right on there arms, they have to be Ojii-sans.'

'**They may have the tattoo but there attire says otherwise, look closely.'**

Following the demoness' orders Naruto inspected their clothing. That's when he spotted a kanji on the right shoulder plate of the 'Bear' Anbu. 'Root? I've never heard of a 'Root' Anbu before.'

'**Naru-kun don't let them take you, if they're not your Hokage's ninjas then they're not the councils either.' **

'But that doesn't make any sense, there aren't two separate Anbu's are there?'

'**I don't know Naru-kun but do not go with them.' **Kyuubi cautiously stated.

With a nod to himself Naruto looked at the group before looking back at the bear masked man. "I'm sorry Anbu-san but I don't think I-"

"Uzumaki, if you do not come with us then we will force you to." the bear Anbu said in the same monotone voice as before. The group quickly surrounded the boy, leaving no room for escape.

'Crap, what do I do now.' Naruto thought nervously. There wasn't a chance in the world that he would be able to fight Anbu ninja and he didn't want to risk using Kyu-chan's chakra do to the fact that the results would be unpredictable.

"Let the boy go." A new voice came from behind the group and Naruto. Said people turned their heads toward the origin of the voice only to find a single man with the same blonde hair and blue-eyes as the boy.

"And who are you?" asked the 'Bear' Anbu.

"Someone whom you should take their advice from." the man said with a calm tone.

"We can not do that, leave now and you will not be harmed."

"I'm afraid _I _can't do that, so it looks like we're at a stand still." the man stated with his tone unchanging.

"Eagle, Wolf, take care of the intruder." 'Bear' commanded. The two Anbu that were called disappeared out of the surrounding formation and reappeared right in front of the blonde man with wakizashi's at the ready. Both Anbu began slashing in multiple directions which the man expertly dodged. Catching an opening in the wolf masked ninja's onslaught, the man performed a quick sweep kick, causing the Anbu to go airborne. Using this advantage, the man brought his knee up, causing the airborne figure's back to land directly on it. A loud 'crack' was heard before the body fell to the floor, unmoving.

Eagle brought his weapon up above his head and quickly brought it down upon the newcomer's head. The blonde man caught the blade in his hand and outstretched his arm which caused the strike to go back to its original position. He swiftly threw a punch at the Anbu's stomach which sent the ninja flying backwards into the apartment complex and through its wall, unconscious.

"W-who is he?" Naruto asked in bewilderment. 'He caught a blade in his bear hand and he sent an Anbu through a wall with one punch!'

At this point the remaining 'Root' Anbu surrounded the blonde haired man. "Kill him." was the next command that came from 'Bear' before he and the group charged forward with no intent of backing down. Accepting their intentions the man swiftly performed hand signs, "Raiton: Raizou Ikazuchi wo Utte (Lightning style: Lightning bolt strike)." Lightning began dancing on his right arm and hand before both appendages became incased in the element. He forcefully brought his palm down on the ground and at that moment lightning bolts struck the charging ninja's, causing them to fall to the ground unconscious.

Naruto stared at his savior with excitement and confusion written all over his face, 'He defeated all those Anbu without any trouble at all…who is he?' Determined to get his question answered he walked over to the man.

'That could have gone better…at least my otouto is safe.' thought Tatsu

"Who are you?" came the voice of said child from behind

Tatsu turned around only to become speechless, he's never seen his otouto up close before and upon first sight he could only conclude one thing. 'He looks just like me!'

'…**I wouldn't say he's looks **_**just **_**like you, but you two do share a lot of features.' **came Hima-chan's voice.

'He looks just like me!' Naruto thought with his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

'**You two do look very similar, but there are some differences Naru-kun.' **Kyuubi stated.

Tatsu put his hand on the little blonde's head and ruffled it a bit. "Lets get you inside your home first before we introduce each other." a genuine smile formed on the taller blonde's face as they both disappeared in a flash of white.

Naruto didn't have time to think before he saw the outside scenery of his neighborhood change into that of his living room in his apartment. 'W-what just happened?' he was thoroughly confused.

'**I don't know myself, he must have used a jutsu to transport us into your apartment.' **the fox demoness guessed.

Tatsu, upon appearing into the apartment, became saddened at how unkempt the room really was. Cracks in the ceiling, the floor stained; most likely from leaks throughout the living space, but the most saddening aspect were the words graphitized on the walls. 'How could villagers do this to him…how could I leave him here to live in this hell.'

'**Tastu-kun, you're here now, he doesn't have to suffer anymore.' **the comforting voice of Hima-chan stated.

'….You're right, I can make up for it starting now.'

"Naruto."

The boy's eyes widened a bit, "How do you know my name?" he asked with a surprised tone.

"Hehe," Tatsu chuckled "I'm going to get to that, just let me explain." The smaller blonde nodded his head and began to pay close attention.

Tatsu retracted his hand from the boy's head and crossed his arms. "You've noticed that we look fairly similar, ne?" Naruto nodded his head once again, "There's a reason to that…" the tall blonde took a deep breathe before continuing, "My name is Tastu Uzumaki, and I Naruto am your older brother."

Naruto kept his eyes pinned on his supposed 'brother' as if he would disappear out of existence in any second. "Y-you're kidding right…this has to be a joke." his voice held vigorous amounts of disbelief, "I know w-we look alike but you being my brother…you would have been here for me, not some where else right? So you can't be my brother."

Tatsu's face saddened significantly but he was NOT going to give up, "I know it's hard to believe, but there's also a reason why I wasn't there for you…I had to leave the village…in order to protect you."

Naruto immediately shot back a remark in anger "But you didn't protect me! I was hit and beaten, talked down on, spat on by the villagers. The only people who actually cared for me were Ojii-san, Teuchi-ojiisan and Ayame-neechan!" tears formed in his eyes as he finished.

Guilt immediately shot through Tatsu's heart but he still continued his explanation, "Naruto, I had to protect you from the villages enemies, if they found out about your existence then they would have surely come here to take you away…and kill you." he said the last part of the sentence in a low voice.

"Villages enemies? Why would they want to take me away?" all anger subsided within the small blonde, but the tears were still present in his eyes.

"Because you have Kyuubi-san in you." Tatsu explained with guilt still within his heart.

"Kyuubi…san? You know who she is?… You know she's not evil?" Naruto asked in slight shock.

Tatsu chuckled slightly, "I know who she is Naruto, and I know what she's not." a smile formed on his face, "I know she's not an evil being, and I know she's protected you from the unjust you've had to endure."

Naruto's disbelief began fading from his mind. "You don't think like the villagers do and we look just alike…but how do you know this much about Kyu-chan?"

"Because…" Tatsu began as he unzipped his Jounin vest "I know exactly how it feels…" the now open piece of clothing revealed a mesh shirt underneath, "to have a being sealed within you." he finally grabbed on to the shirt and lifted it up.

Naruto's eyes went wide in complete shock because upon this mans stomach was a seal, that looked exactly like his. "Y-you…?" was all the small blonde could stammer out as he pointed at Tatsu's stomach.

The taller blonde just nodded his head, "She's been sealed within me for about six years now and has looked after me ever since." he released the grip on the shirt causing it fall back down into its original position. "Naruto, even if you don't believe that we're brothers, please understand that I'll always be here-kkmph!"

The small blonde had rushed forward and implanted himself in Tatsu's stomach, "I believe you!" was all he could say as he began crying, this time though the tears were those of happiness.

It took a few seconds but Tatsu's mind finally caught up with what just happened and he returned the embrace, squeezing the boy like he was his lifeline. "Arigato otouto, for accepting me."

"No Nii-san (older brother), arigato for coming back."

END OF CHAPTER

I enjoyed writing that chapter.

"I'm sure you did baka."

Stop calling me that!

"No! You're being mean to me so I'm going to keep on calling you a baka."

*sigh*….ok, ok I'll start being nice to you Naruto.

"Really!"

Yes really, and….I-I am s-s-ss-sorry ffffor being m-mean t-t-to you.

"It's ok Kotov-niichan I forgive you!"

Alrigh- wait what?

"I _said_, it's ok Kotov-niichan I forgive you."

…..'CRASH!'

"Nii-chan…. Are you all right?"

….

*sweat drop* "It looks like Kotov-niichan is unconscious again, was it something I said?….Anyway stay tuned for the next chapter of 'Savior,' Ja ne!"


	6. Freedom

"We're back again with a new chapter to 'Savior' and Kotov-niichan is back to normal."

Yep I am…Naruto why are you calling me your 'brother?'

"Because we've known each other for a while and you're like my big brother."

But I've been mean to you…don't you think we should be on better terms then the ones we're on right now?

"We are on good terms though, you're being nicer to me."

Yea but….*sigh* never mind, sometimes I forget that you're only nine.

"What's that suppose to mean!"

It means that you're a child you idiot!

WHA-!

Haha I know how to block now, so you can't hit me anymore.

"Ah nii-chan that's not fair…"

Not fair! You hit me every time I say something true about you!

"No I don't!"

….Do you want to say hello to Mr. Tommy Gun again…

"N-no, I-I'll be quiet."

Thank you, anyways there's a few things I need to point out before you begin reading, I will be opening a poll for you're answers to one of my questions. If you vote yes to this question then I need to change a few things in the story, if you vote no then things will be left the way they are. Please, those readers who are still reading the story vote, it'll help me out if you do. Now enjoy the new chapter of 'Savior.'

Chapter 5: Freedom

'I need to get him out of this place.' Tatsu concluded as he looked around Naruto's room. It was no different then any other room in the small apartment; leaks were found staining the floor and cracks littered the walls and ceiling.

'**I don't know if he would want to move out, he's been accustomed to this lifestyle for quite a while and he might not be able to adapt to any other style of living.'**

Hima-chan said.

'You're probably right, but if he doesn't want to live with me then I need to find a better place for him.' the tall blonde concluded.

Taking one last look at the sleeping form of his otouto, Tatsu disappeared from the room in a flash of white.

Atop the Hokage Monument…

'I'm glad to see that this place is still peaceful.' Tatsu said with a smile adorning his face. Before he left, the landmark always served as a place of tranquility for the tall blonde. Whether it'd be after a difficult mission or when he just needed time to himself he would always come here.

'**What are we doing here koibito?' **Hima-chan asked curiously.

'I'm letting you out.' he simply answered. Red chakra began surrounding the blonde's body from head to toe, until it detached from him and began molding into a human figure that stood about 5'7. As the seconds rolled on more and more details began appearing from the chakra, such as long violet hair that framed a beautiful face and elegant red eyes. A lean body faded into existence that had nice, well-developed curves, and voluptuous breasts. The clothing that came into existence consisted of a tight, black fishnet shirt that hugged her body along with a black shirt underneath that left her stomach exposed but covered up the rest of her torso. Upon her shoulders were red armored shoulder plates that had a fox embroidered on their surfaces. Black shinobi pants hugged her legs along with armored plated shin guards that sported the same color as the shoulder plates. Black shinobi sandals covered her feet, leaving no skin exposed. On her hands were fingerless gloves that were plated by the knuckles and finally on her waist was a violet sash that had an unknown gold plated buckle on it.

'Kami, I forget just how beautiful she can be.' Tatsu thought but it was quickly severed as Hima-chan pounced on him, sending both of them to the ground. The violette wasted no time as she attacked her lovers lips hungrily and passionately. Even though the tall blonde was caught off guard he kissed back with no hesitation.

Minutes passed and the two finally broke apart for some much needed air though the chemistry between the two was still present.

"I've been waiting to do that for a while." Hima-chan stated.

"Hehe, I see you have but I brought you out here for a reason."

The violette raised a quizzical eyebrow at the statement, "What is it koibito?" she asked.

A smile broke out on his face, "I've been working on…a jutsu of sorts, and once I finish it I can use it to free you from the seal."

Hima-chan's eyes widened significantly, she knew he had been working on something like this for quite a while. How? Well, there are a lot of advantages for being trapped in someone's mind. The only thing she didn't know were the specific details and those were things she needed to find out. She filed her objective in the back of her mind and brought her lips down on her lover's once more.

"Is that the only reason why you brought me out here?" she asked seductively as the kiss ended.

Again the blonde smiled, "No, I wanted to see you." was his simple answer.

"How much of me did you want to see?"

"That depends kanojo, how much of you are you willing to show me?" Tatsu's own tone became seductive as well.

"Hmmm…We'll just have to find out." that was the last thing said as the violette once again brought her lips down upon his, and slowly but surely, they began removing each others clothes.

Inside Naruto's mindscape…

"I still can't believe I have a Nii-san, especially me of all people." Naruto said excitedly.

"**Believe it Naru-kun, you have family now."** Kyuubi said with a smile.

'Family.' he thought with a small smile on his face. The word was still foreign to him and it would be something that he would have to get use to saying. Setting that thought aside, there still was an unanswered question that the small blonde had and the person who might have the answer was standing right in front of him.

"Kyu-chan…when Nii-san said he had a being sealed inside himself did you know who it was?"

"**I'm afraid I didn't, I couldn't sense any of the sealed being's chakra on your brother which means he knows how to hide it well."**

That caused the little blonde's curiosity to spike tenfold. If Kyuubi didn't know then that means he would have to find out himself. "Come to think of it I still don't know that much about him….It's settled then, starting tomorrow I'll get to know my Nii-san!" he said with excitement once again as he performed a fist pump.

Kyuubi chuckled at his antics but smiled nonetheless.

Back at the Hokage Monument…

"What are your plans now that you're back home?" asked Hima-chan as she adjusted the sash on her waist.

"Well, starting tomorrow I'm going to train my otouto," Tatsu put his hand on his chin making it an obvious sign that he hadn't really 'planned' anything yet "…and I have to visit a few people that…need to know I'm here." his face saddened upon finishing his sentence.

The violette was now looking at her lover with a curious expression, "Why is it necessary for you to reveal yourself to them?"

The tall blonde folded his arms and averted his eyes toward the ground, "I…they think I'm dead Hima-chan…they believe I died at the hands of Kyuubi-san."

Her eyes widened a bit but she began putting the pieces together and concluded the reasoning behind the false fact. "You needed to keep your existence under the radar in order to protect your little brother and what better way than to fake your own death." Tatsu acknowledged her answer by nodding his head but that left one unanswered question, "What made them believe you were dead?"

"….after the attack my friends came looking for me because I didn't show up at the rendezvous point. The only thing they found of me was a torn hitaite, a shredded anbu chest plate, my anbu mask covered in blood, and finally a Chi bunshin (blood clone) severed in half on the ground. That left them enough evidence to declare me KIA."

"I see, and the interval between the time they went looking for you and the time they found the bunshin gave you a window to make your way out of the village." she more of stated than asked. "How did you evade the remaining ninja from the battle?"

"They were busy rallying up the villagers from the fallout bunker, and those who were in my path I evaded through the shadows." as he finished his sentence his expression saddened again.

Hima-chan caught the expression and concluded one thing, "Somebody saw you leave didn't they?"

"…" he stayed silent.

"Who was it?"

"…it was somebody precious to me, I just made it to the gate when she saw me and before she could say anything I rendered her unconscious."

"What did you do to her?" Hima-chan's tone became a little uneasy.

"I performed a genjutsu on her that forced her into a sleep like state, it also should have wiped her memory clean of ever seeing me that night."

"Oh." was the violette's response, she anticipated a different answer from the tall blonde but she was relieved to know that she was wrong. "Well what are you going to do now? It is pretty late and you have a lot to do tomorrow."

"I'm going to work on that jutsu, the sooner I finish it the sooner you can be free." Tatsu smiled at his lover.

"Tatsu-kun…you know that you need sleep, plus I know you'll finish the jutsu in no time, I'm in no hurry to be free as long as I'm with you."

"But, I'm not tired…" The blonde began to pout.

"Hmm…I know how I can make you tired." she cooed.

"How can-" Tatsu was cut off by the violette whom tackled him to the ground in a lustful kiss.

Sunlight slowly broke through the horizon and cast its rays over the village of Konoha validating that the tomorrow has arrived.

'Gah…sunlight.' was the only thought that went through Naruto's mind as the morning rays seeped through his bedroom window and into his eyes. He slowly rose out of bed and began walking into his bathroom while dragging his feet on the ground. 'I need to get ready for today and find Nii-san.' his mind was finally starting to wake up and his determined goal from yesterday was starting to resurface. 'Getting to know him should be easy, we probably have a lot in common and if I'm right I think I know where to find him.'

"**What's your guess Naru-kun?' **Kyuubi asked out of curiosity.

'Well, I have a couple guesses, he's either at the monument or at Ichiraku's."

'**You could be right, although I think he should have told you where to find him.'**

'Yea, but what would be the fun in that?' Naruto smiled brightly. 'I better get ready so I can go find him.' with that said, the small blonde ran into the bathroom and started the shower.

At the Hokage Monument…

'Looks like I'm just about finished, It'll definitely be ready tonight." Tatsu declared as he stood up from his kneeling position. Sweat drizzled down his forehead and his breathing was slightly uneven. He looked over at the sleeping form of Hima-chan whom was curled up under his cloak. Though exhausted, Tatsu smiled at her sleeping form which turned over to reveal her eyes open, and staring directly at him. "How'd you sleep kanojo?"

The violette sat up from her prone position and rubbed her eyes with her forearm, "Best sleep I had in a while, how about you?"

The tall blonde yawned before he answered, "I slept good." was his simple reply.

Hima-chan quirked an eyebrow at her lover and her voice became mildly accusing, "You didn't sleep didn't you?"

"Why would you ask that…of course I did." he answered unevenly.

"Really? Then why are you sweating and why is your breathing uneven?" she asked in mock annoyance as she stood up.

'Damn, she's as observant as ever…either that or the conditions are _that_ noticeable.' The blonde yawned again before answering, "I'm glad to see that nothing gets past my kanojo…ok, I was working on the jutsu all night and because of that I was not able to sleep."

"But why are you sweating and breathing unevenly? I wouldn't think a jutsu like that required intense movement or that much of an expense of chakra."

"It doesn't, but creating a jutsu is hard work and it does take a lot out of you."

"Says the person with almost unlimited stamina." The violette sarcastically said.

"_Anyway_…" he emphasized " I've completed it and tonight you'll be free."

"Koibito, you don't have to do this, like I said as long as I'm with you-"

"Hima-chan, I made the mistake of sealing you and I want to make up for it…what better way then to give you back the freedom that I stole."

"But-" before she knew it her lips were covered by his own. The kiss was short but it said enough.

"Trust me, we're freeing you tonight, it's a promise."

The violette just nodded and hugged the blonde with her face snug against his chest. "Are you going to train your otouto today?" she asked, trying to break the brief silence.

"Yea, I have to find him first..I don't why I didn't tell him where to find me, Kami how can I be such an idiot." he said as he hugged back.

"Koibito, you have a lot on your mind and taking care of Naruto is going to be something new to you, you've never played the part of 'big brother' before so it's going to be something you have to get use to."

Tatsu chuckled lightly "I sometimes wonder how you have explanations for almost everything."

"It's because I love you." she simply answered.

Outside Naruto's apartment…

"Alright, first place I need to check is Ichiraku's!" Naruto shouted excitedly, "I might stop and get bowl while I'm at it since I didn't eat breakfast."

"**You sort of rushed out of the house because you were excited to find your brother." **Kyuubi explained

"It wasn't that Kyu-chan, I don't really have any food left in the apartment so there was no point in staying any longer." the blonde said matter-of-factly.

"**…**"

"Don't worry, Ichiraku's will fill me up in no time." he said as he began running toward his desired location.

'I need to figure out what me and Nii-san are going to do today…maybe he already has something planned for us. The only way to find out is to find him and If I'm lucky, maybe he'll be at Ichiraku's.'

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" came a voice of a girl no older than the small blonde.

Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned around, only to find a pinkette stumbling; trying to regain her balance.

"Ah sorry Sakura-chan, but I'm in a big hurry." he explained.

"You idiot I don't care, you need to watch where you're going!"

That really hit a nerve, the boy never did anything wrong to her and yet she acts like he completely destroyed her life or something along that nature. "Sakura…"

Said girl looked at the small blonde and that is when surprise hit her face, because the boy in front of her held an expression of pure sadness and a little anger. She has never seen this side of Naruto before, again he was always happy and carefree but now, now was different. The pinkette did not speak which was a signal for the blonde to.

"What did I do to you?" was the simple question.

"What do you mean? You bumped into-"

"That's not what I meant…what have I done to you to make you hate me?" his voice held a little anger at first but at the end of his question it was laced with sadness.

Sakura's eyes widened a significantly, but she could not speak on the matter because she was questioning herself. 'Hate him?'

Through Naruto's mind, her silence seemed to answer his simple question. So, he broke the silence, "Sakura, I'm sorry…for doing whatever I did to cause you to hate me, and gomen…for befriending you." he quickly turned and began once again to run to his destination.

Sakura stood there in silence as if she was practically glued to the ground. What the little blonde said triggered something as she began to remember a specific event that happened no too long after Naruto discovered what lived inside him.

Flashback….

"_Leave me alone!" came a saddened yell from a girl who was lying on the ground. She was no older than six, she had on a light yellow shirt that seemed to button up, along with white sleeves, next was a turquoise skirt that stooped just above her knees, and to complete the outfit she had on blue sandals. She had jade green eyes that adorned her face which were pure and innocent, but the most interesting quality about her was her unusual pink hair. _

_Unfortunately, she was surrounded bye a couple of boys and girls who were about two or three years older than her. _

"_And why would we want to do that, 'Forehead?'" the one eight year-old boy asked. _

_The girl had tears falling down her face, "Stop it!" she yelled once again but the force behind it lessened greatly as it sounded more like a muffled sob. There was one more attribute I forgot to mention, according to the older kids as well as some her age, she has a big forehead. For as long as she could remember, she was always teased about it and today was one of those days in which the teasing was amplified. _

"_We're not going to forehead, so get use to it!" one of the nine-year old girls shouted._

"_Hey!" yelled a new voice._

_All of the present children turned their heads to see where the voice originated from. There, in front of them was a small blonde haired boy with deep sapphire-blue eyes and a whiskered face. He had on a black shirt with Konoha's symbol printed on the back of it along with a pair of orange shorts that stopped at his knees. Finally, on his feet were a pair of black sandals._

_The boy continued to speak, "You guys leave her alone!"_

"_Oh really?" asked the eldest boy of the group who was ten years old, "and what are you going to do if we don't ?"_

"_I'll beat you all up!" was the blonde's yelled reply._

"_So the little outcast wants a good beating…ok, lets get em'!" the eldest yelled and as if he were the commander of an army the group of kids began charging forward at the small savior. _

_The skirmish only lasted a few minutes but there were a lot of punches and kicks thrown. The mainstream of them were aimed at the small blonde which he managed to dodge some, but ultimately he was hit by the majority of them. He threw a few kicks and punches of his own which did connect and sent a few out of the fight. The overall result though, was the small blonde ending up on the ground gradually being kicked._

"_Hey, break it up!" came the voice of an Anbu who seemingly appeared out of no where._

_The kids stopped their actions and looked up at the ninja with shocked faces, but they complied with the orders and backed off._

"_Now all of you return home and leave these two alone." the Anbu ordered again._

_They all complied and began walking in different directions, preferably to there houses. _

_The ninja kneeled down in front of the fallen boy, searching for any severe injures. Except for a few bruised ribs and the small drizzle of blood that streamed from his mouth, the blonde was fine and in knowing that the Anbu disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_The savior slowly got up; breathing heavily and holding his ribs he began walking over to the pinkette who was now standing up._

"_A-are you ok?" the girl asked, not knowing really what to say._

"_Hehe, yea (grunt) I'm fine-" he was cut off mid-sentence as the pinkette engulfed him in a hug._

"_Arigato…arigato,arigato." she sobbed._

_The blonde slowly lifted his arms and hugged the girl back. It was an action that he wasn't really use to but that didn't mean he didn't know what it was or how to do it. _

_The hug lasted for a few minutes until they slowly let go of each other. They stared into each others eyes as if trying to peer into each others soul, but at that moment the blonde boy asked a simple question._

"_What's your name?" _

"_Sakura, Sakura Haruno." she answered with a small blush present on her face. "What's yours?"_

"_Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." he answered with a bright smile on his face which made the known 'Sakura' blush a little deeper._

End Flashback…

Reality seem to have hit home as tears began to fall from the pinkette's eyes, yet that was all she could do. Her mind was telling her to chase after him, to tell him that she was sorry but her body would not respond. Naruto's words had that much of an impact on her and they began to replay in her head like a broken record. Only a few minutes later did her legs begin to move, but not in the direction in which Naruto ran. She ran home, because that seemed to be the only place where she could recollect her thoughts.

Near Ichiraku's…

'I should have realized she hated me.' Naruto thought at the spur of the moment.

'**I don't think that's the case Naru-kun, just because she didn't respond to your question doesn't mean she hates you.'**

'Then why has she treated me like garbage all my life?'

'**I think you may know the reason to that.'**

'But she doesn't know about you, so how-' Naruto's eyes widened a bit, 'Her parents told her?'

'**I don't think they told her about me because of the Hokage's decree, but I do think they told her to stay away from you.'**

'…' he stayed silent, not knowing how to respond.

'**You're here.' **was the last thing Kyuubi said before the connection between the two was severed.

The small blonde slowly walked in to the ramen stand with what seemed to be a saddened expression but he quickly hid it and a fake smile took it's place. He looked around the mini restaurant but did not spot his Nii-san to his dismay, but he had one more place in mind. He turned around and began walking out but a feminine voice halted his tracks.

"Something wrong Naruto?" Ayame asked as she walked up to the counter, she caught the small blonde walking out at the corner of her eye.

Said boy held his fake smile in place and turned around, "Nothing Ayame-neechan, I was just looking for somebody and I thought he would be here."

"Oh, who are you looking for?"

'Should I tell her Kyu-chan?'

"**It would be for the best." **she explained

"Ayame-neechan…can you keep a secret?"

"Sure I can." the brunette said as she nodded.

Naruto nodded his head in confirmation, "Ok…yesterday I found out that I had a Nii-san," he said with a little excitement in his tone, "I know you're wondering how I did and well…he saved me from these group of ninja waiting outside my home."

Ayame's eyes widened tremendously and tears became visible in them, "You mean h-he's here, he's back?"

"You know who Nii-san is?" All the brunette could do was nod, "how do-" realization seemed to have struck the blonde at that particular moment, "He's the one who you said disappeared." it was more of a statement then question.

Again she nodded with tears continuing to fall down her face.

Naruto stayed silent for a moment and put his hand on his chin as if he were thinking. Moments passed and he finally broke the silence with a question that surprised her thoroughly, "Do you want to come with me?"

"Come…with you?" she repeated the question.

"Yea! There's only one other place I think he could be and if he's there then you two can catch up!" the blonde yelled excitedly.

"I-I can't, I need to watch the stand and-"

"Go Ayame, I think I can handle watching it myself for a bit." came Teuchi as he walked out of the back of the stand and to the front counter.

"But Tou-san-"

"Go Ayame, I know you want to see him, heck I want to see the boy too but you and him have a bond that needs to be fixed, so please go."

Ayame stood there for a second before she slowly nodded and embraced her father in a hug, "Arigato, Tou-san." she quickly let go and walked to Naruto's side, "I'm ready to go when you are, but…where exactly are we going?" she asked while wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"The Hokage Monument."

The brunette giggled a bit before saying something, "I should have guessed, I remember the first time he took me up there."

"He's taken you up there before, does that mean he went there all the time?" the small blonde asked eagerly.

Ayame nodded her head in acknowledgement, "It was the only place where he could actually relax," a small smile formed on her face as she averted her gaze toward the ground, "He was in the Anbu and they gave him so many missions that he rarely had time to rest, but it seemed that whenever he went up there he was completely rejuvenated." she explained.

'Yatta! We do have things in common!' he mentally yelled, "Lets waste no more time then Ayame-neechan, we have to get up there!"

"Alright, lead the way Naruto." with that said the two walked out of the stand and toward their desired destination.

Atop the Hokage Monument…

'Alright, I'll bring you back out when it's time. Is that ok kanojo?'

"**That's fine koibito, you know I don't mind being in your head." **Hima-chan answered.

'Haha, that wasn't the case six years ago.' Tatsu joked.

"**Back then I wasn't in love with you and I was bitter because a mortal was able to defeat me." **she pouted.

'I can see my joke caused some of the old Hima-chan to break the surface.' the tall blonde joked once again.

"**Quiet you!" **she yelled in mock anger.

'Ok, ok Hima-chan I'm just joking. Anyway I think I should go look for my otouto.' the blonde turned around and began his descent down the mountain.

"**My koibito is walking, I'm surprised." **the violette said in a sarcastic tone.

'Well, I figured I should walk around the village a bit and see what has changed and maybe I'll spot Naruto along the way before I reach his apartment.'

"**You do know that if the villagers see you all hell is going to break lose, right?"**

'Don't worry, I have it under control.' Tatsu guaranteed.

Half way down the path the tall blonde spotted two figures coming up. The first figure he could tell who it was right away do to the fact that it had unruly blonde hair and had on an orange jumpsuit. Another reason was that it was running toward him while waving it's right hand in the air. 'Hehe, looks like he found me first.' The second figure was too far behind, and the tall blonde could not make out any details.

"Hey Nii-san!" Naruto yelled as he ran and waved at the same time.

"Hey Naruto!" Tatsu yelled back as a smile formed on his face and he picked up his pace in order to meet his little brother half way. "It seems like you found me before I found you. How did you know I was up here?"

Before the smaller blonde could answer he jumped up into the air and latched on to his older sibling, practically embracing him…or giving him a bear hug, you couldn't really tell. "I figured you and me had a lot in common and I guessed that you would be in one of two of my favorite places, Ichiraku's or here." he explained while still hugging the taller blonde.

Tatsu, although surprised, hugged back nonetheless, 'Naruto sure knows how to use his intuition when needed.' he thought. The older blonde chuckled before he spoke "I'm glad to hear we have a thing in common and good job for finding me." he congratulated.

Naruto released his older sibling and now stood in front of him, looking up at his face, "So if you were trying to find me then what did you have planned for us?"

"Well otouto, the only thing I had planned was training you to become a ninja, but that's only if you want me to."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before his foxy smile plastered itself on his face, "Of course I want you to!" was his short and excited reply.

"Haha I'm glad, now you have…to…..understand…." Tatsu's voice began to slow down with each word because behind his little brother he spotted what seemed to be a person, preferably a woman, wearing a white apron. His sapphire-blue eyes began to work their way upwards as if they were searching for a specific something. They finally rested on another set of brown, chocolate orbs that were staring directly into his blue ones. 'Is..Is that who I think it is?' he mentally asked himself.

The woman slowly walked up to the tall blonde with tears in her eyes, yet they were glued on the man in front of her. She finally stopped directly in front of the seemingly shocked, blonde haired man; unmoving and silent.

"A-Ayame-chan?"

SMACK!

Tatsu's head lurched to the left a bit do to the force of the given slap. As his shock resided he realized he deserved that, hell he knew he deserved a lot more from this beautiful woman, yet the next thing that came was a hug. His eyes widened a bit as his mind completely shut down but his body responded to the contact and he slowly hugged back.

Sobs were coming from the brunette as she hugged on to Tatsu with all her might, thinking that if she let go he would disappear again. "W-why? Why did you leave?"

As if his brain rebooted to the question, he answered immediately but in a soft tone, "I had to…for the sake of my otouto." he answered.

"For the sake o-of Naruto?" she asked through muffled sobs, he still didn't answer her question and she knew there was more to it.

"He had no one to protect him from our families enemies, and because of that he was at risk and so was the village." he explained once again.

"But Naruto was in danger here as well, he's been through hell and he had no one to protect him from it." she said with a little anger.

Tatsu's faced saddened significantly, "I know Ayame-chan, but if I would have stayed he would have gone through worse things then what he's going through now."

That sort of made sense, but there still was a couple of unanswered questions, "Why didn't you tell any of us you were leaving? I saw you leave the village yet all of our friends were telling me you died, I didn't know what to believe for the longest time."

The blonde's eyes became downcast and his expression remained unchanged, " I needed to be dead…my existence had to be kept under the radar, otherwise the mission would have been compromised and the enemies would have expected my presence."

The brunettes head dug deeper into Tatsu's chest with tears still streaming down her face. She now understood the blonde's intentions, but why was it so hard to forgive him and realize that he had to do this?

"Ayame-chan, please understand that I didn't mean to hurt you emotionally, but I had to do what I had to do in order to keep the village and my otouto safe. I haven't forgotten what you mean to me nor will I ever, how could I when we've been through so much together?" he said in a comforting voice. "I love you and I always have, don't think otherwise." he finished.

That whole statement lifted the veil that blocked the forgiveness and understanding from finding its way to Ayame's heart. She was left speechless but her body moved on its own, she pulled backed from the older blonde's chest and desperately smashed her lips to his.

Tatsu was caught off guard a little but instantly kissed back with no hesitation. The kiss lasted quite a few seconds but finally ended when Ayame pulled away.

"Don't ever leave me again…please don't." she demanded desperately as she reburied her head into his chest.

"I promise." was all he said but those words were filled with love.

A small smile formed on the brunette's face because she knew that the tall blonde always kept his promises.

"Uhh Nii-san, are you two done yet?" Naruto asked causing both adults to separate quickly with blushes on their faces.

"Hehe, yea we're done." Tatsu said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

The younger blonde smiled, 'Kyu-chan?"

"**Hmm?"**

'Is that what you meant when you said that Ayame-neechan loves Nii-san?'

"**It is Naru-kun."**

That caused Naruto's smile to only deepen.

9 hours later, at training ground 7.…

"Ok Naruto we should stop for today, it's getting pretty late and you look like you're about to pass out." Tatsu said with arms folded.

The small blonde didn't respond as he was down on all fours panting roughly. After the meeting at the Hokage Monument Ayame parted ways with the two brothers, explaining that she needed to get back to the stand and help her father. With the brunette gone Tatsu proceeded with taking his otouto to training ground number 7 where he explained his training regime. Naruto was going to be trained in all aspects of techniques and the knowledge of them, including genjustsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu, which were separately worked on throughout the session. As for Fuuinjutsu, Tatsu explained that the smaller blonde should master a few ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques before they start on it.

"I'm ok Nii-san, I can…still…go-" that was all Naruto could get out before he fell to the floor, unconscious.

'He overdid himself…that's another thing we have in common.' Tatsu thought.

"**Honestly, I don't know if that similarity is a good or bad thing." **Hima-chan said with sacarsm.

'Haha, I prefer it to be a good thing.'

"**I know you do koibito, and that's what makes me worried for you."**

'Don't be, you know I'm always fine after I collapse.' he said in a loving tone.

"**I know…but still and you should get your otouto home, ne?" **she asked.

'Yea you're right.' as his statement ended Tatsu walked up to his little brother's unconscious form and picked him up. Within a second both figures disappeared in a flash of white.

At the Hokage Monument, 15 minutes later….

'Ok Hima-chan I'm bringing you out.' the tall blonde closed his eyes and let red chakra flow throughout his body. It quickly became visible and once again detached from his body, molding and solidifying into Hima-chan.

"Are you ready?" Tatsu immediately asked.

"I am, but I have a couple questions." the violette claimed, "How long is the process and what will happen to you?"

"It only lasts a few seconds and we both will be unharmed." the tall blonde answered.

Hima-chan looked skeptical for a moment but trusted his words with no objections, "Ok…so what do I do."

"Just stand where you are, I'll handle the rest." Tatsu took his cloak off and placed it on the ground. He walked up to the violette and placed his right hand on her stomach while his left pointer finger and middle finger were on her forehead. An unfamiliar white glow illuminated the blondes outline before disappearing and reappearing on Hima-chan, causing her to close her eyes at it's warm feeling.

"Release." whispered Tatsu, causing the illuminating white glow to disappear off of Hima-chan's outline.

The violette opened her eyes and gasped at the sight before her. Tatsu stood there with his knees shaking slightly and with sweat covering his lean and toned body. The most shocking part though, was that the blonde's blue-eye's were no longer blue, but blood red and his canines were elongated.

"Hehe, looks like it worked." his voice sounded much deeper than normal but before Hima-chan could say anything he collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

END CHAPTER…

What…a…long….chapter

"It took you forever to finish!"

Well I'm sorry that I worked everyday for the past two weeks, so don't blame me, blame my job.

"Then quit your job!"

I am…well not really, I'm heading off to college soon so I told them I would email them when I'm on breaks and stuff.

"What? Why?'

So I can be re-employed in their staff.

"So you're wasting you're breaks on working instead of writing, you're never going to finish this story if you do that!"

Yes I will! Have faith in me, jeez. Anyway I do apologize for the long wait but I was swamped with work, and trust me when I say, I'm not giving up on this story.

"You better not nii-chan, or otherwise I'll kick your ass."

Get over yourself you shrimp.

"Hey! I'm not a shrimp!"

Naruto….you are… and you know why you are?

"Why?"

Cause you're freakin' short.

"…No…I'm…**NOT!**"

Gah crap! Sorry folks but I gotta run, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and stay tuned for the next installment of 'Savior.'


	7. News

Yo everybody, it's KotovSyndrome with another chapter to 'Savior.'

"Hey, don't forget about me."

*Sigh*….right, everybody knows you're here with me so what's the point in introducing you. Just introduce yourself.

"But it's cooler when you do it."

How so?

"I don't know, it just is!"

I need to remember you're only nine…I keep forgetting.

"Oh, come on…I'm not that bad."

I don't know who you are trying to kid.

"I'm being serious!"

Yea and that's what worries me…anyway enjoy the new chapter folks.

"Kotov-baka does not own Naruto or any of its characters."

Chapter 6: News

Pain, as Tatsu's senses came to that was the only thing he could feel. He slowly opened his eyes only to close them again do to the suns bright rays. 'Damn that's bright…' he opened his eyes again and began observing his surrounding. 'Looks like I'm still at the monument,' he glanced down at himself to see that his torso was bare and the only clothing he had on were his black shinobi pants, 'I can see Hima-chan's been taking good care of me….Hima-chan!' the blonde shot up from his prone position causing the pain to intensify significantly. Ignoring it to the best of his ability he frantically looked around for the violette, 'Where is she?'

"Tatsu-kun…I'm right here." came a voice from behind him.

The blonde's demeanor returned to calm and he slowly turned around to find that the violette was in fact 'right there.' He quickly averted his gaze toward his stomach to see that the seal was actually gone. 'She's free…she's free!' a smile found its way on his face and he looked back up at his love only to have it falter a bit. She wasn't smiling, she was frowning and her brows were furrowed, meaning she was mad or upset.

"Why didn't you tell me…why did you lie?" her voice wavered a bit but her expression remained unchanged.

"If I told you the truth would you have gone through with it?" the violette stayed silent which was all Tatsu needed for an answer. "Kanojo, you should know that I would sacrifice anything for you."

"But I don't want you to lose yourself…"

Although he was in excruciating pain, the tall blonde rose to his feet and walked up to his lover and softly kissed her on the lips, "I won't, I know the consequences of my actions and I'm prepared to face them no matter what."

"…" she stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

"What I sacrificed was worth it, now you're free." a small smile graced his face but faltered a little as his doubt started to kick in. "You can return home and see all of your loved ones again, I know they more than likely miss you and you miss them too-"

"You know, for as smart as you are you can be a real baka sometimes." she interrupted him, "I do miss them and I know they miss me, but I love you and if I return to see them you're coming with me."

Tatsu's eyes widened in surprise, "But I'm a human, wouldn't they disapprove of our relationship?"

"If they do I don't care, you're mine and I'm yours; nothing is going to change that." she stated with the utmost determination.

"Ok, ok kanojo… I just hope you're right." he whispered the last part which Hima-chan caught.

"Koibito…" she said timidly.

The tall blonde put his hands up in a defensive matter, "Right, nothing is going to change that I understand."

At Ichiraku's….

"How have you been doing Naruto?" asked a curious Ayame as she continued to cook noodles for said boy.

"I've been doing great Nee-chan, Nii-san started training me yesterday and he said even though it was my first day I learn quickly." he said cheerfully in which afterwards he continued inhaling the bowl of ramen that was in front of him.

"That's good…I'm glad you finally have someone you can depend on." she allowed a small smile to grace her face.

When she looked over her shoulder she knew right away that the small blonde didn't here what she said; he was too busy devouring his meal. Her thoughts momentarily drifted off to the events that unfolded last night. She still couldn't believe that he was back, yet behind all that disbelief was happiness. Knowing that he was alive and unharmed made her beam on the inside. She absentmindedly brought her fingertips to her lips as she remembered the kiss shared between herself and the older blonde and how it held so much love and longing from the both of them. 'I should see if Naruto will let me tag along with him, it'd be nice to see him train and I could visit Tatsu-kun.' came a random thought.

"Ayame-neechan are you ok?" Naruto asked, she looked like she had something on her mind considering that she looked frozen in place.

"Wha? Oh yea, I'm fine," she turned around so that now they were face to face, "Would you like another bowl?" he happily nodded which caused the brunette to walk over with a bowl in hand and place it in front of the eating machine.

"I'm glad to see that we have the same appetite as well otouto." came the voice of a new customer which was already recognizable.

Naruto quickly spun around in his stool and immediately jumped off said object to capture him in a hug. The older of the two brothers was caught off guard and almost fell backwards but he caught himself. Regaining his balance he hugged his little brother back and set him back down on the stool, laughing all the while, "I'm glad to see you too." the laughing died down and a smile adorned the tall blonde's face. He looked up and met chocolate orbs that were staring directly into his sapphire blue ones, "How are you doing Ayame-chan?"

Without hesitation the brunette made her way around the counter and wrapped her arms around his neck in a more intimate embrace than the one Naruto gave. Tatsu instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the hug.

"I'm going to take this as you're doing ok, ne?" he asked happily.

"I'm doing great, I just…I just want to make sure this is all real and that you're here." she responded as she sighed in content.

His face saddened a bit, "This is real Ayame-chan but I'm afraid I have some bad news."

She released herself from the embrace and gave Tatsu a questionable glance, "Bad news?"

He nodded, "I'm taking Naruto with me on a trip outside of Konoha."

Naruto's head immediately shot up with food in his mouth at hearing the news, 'A trip outside of Konoha…why?'

"You two are leaving?" her eyes widened in disbelief, "but you just got back after being gone for nine years!" Ayame nearly yelled, this was enough to already bring down her mood.

"I know, but this isn't just any ordinary trip…I need to take Naruto outside of the village for training, it'll benefit him more if I do so."

'He's leaving again…' tears started to well up in her eyes but she fought them back. "When will you be back?" this was a crucial question for her, she wanted the best for Naruto because he deserves it…but she didn't want to be left in the dark again, it would hurt too much.

"I don't know, it depends on how fast we move and how well Naruto develops during the training." he explained.

"When are we leaving Nii-san?" the small blonde butted in.

"Tomorrow, I've already planned where we're going first so be ready by then, ok?" he said in a semi-serious tone yet it was calm at the same time.

Naruto slowly nodded his head and then continued eating his ramen, although he seemed calm on the outside, on the inside he was exploding with excitement.

Tatsu averted his gaze back at Ayame who had her head down, causing a shadow to cast over her eyes. "Ayame-chan, we'll be back I promise." he placed his fingers under her chin and slowly lifted the brunette's head, only to reveal tear covered eyes.

In one swift motion she hugged him once again, "Remember, you promised." she silently said before letting go and walking over to the smaller blonde. "Be careful Naruto, I'll miss you and look after your big brother for me." she said as she hugged him too.

"You got it Nee-chan and I'll miss you too." he said hugging her back.

"Oh come on Ayame-chan I can take care of myself, I need to look after him." he pointed at Naruto.

The brunette just shook her head and walked back into the kitchen, but neither of them saw the smile that found its way on her face.

"Are you all done otouto?" He asked quizzically as he saw about 10 bowls stacked up right beside him. 'It's very scary how similar we are.'

Naruto vigorously nodded his head and jumped off the stool, he pulled out what seemed to be a green froggy pouch which had little to no money in it.

Tatsu quickly pulled money of his own out of his leg pouch and placed it on the counter, "Don't worry Naruto I'll pay for it…you know if you ever need any help with money I can help you."

"Thanks Nii-san…but as far as helping me out with money I can handle it, I get an allowance and it's enough to pay for the things I need." he stated.

'….He's growing up too fast, if I was there for- …no, I need to stop reveling in the past and focus on the now, this is my chance to be there for him and I'm not going to screw it up.'

"Well we should get started on your training, ne?" the tall blonde asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

"You betcha, I'll see you later Ayame-neechan." Naruto waved goodbye as he walked out of the stand and toward the location of the training grounds.

"I'll see you later too…I love you." Tatsu said before he walked out of the stand in pursuit of his sibling.

Hearing those words made the smile on Ayame's face widen.

Outside the Haruno residence…

"I'll see you later mom." Sakura waved goodbye and closed the door behind her. 'I'm going to go look for him…but where should I search first?' the pinkette dug deep within her mind to think of any possible place that the blonde would be. At that moment is when a very fond memory came to…

Flashback…

"_Where are we going Naruto?" asked a very confused Sakura as she was basically being dragged through the streets of Konoha. _

"_To Ichiraku's" replied a happy Naruto._

"_Ichiraku's?" she again questioned._

" _Mmhm, it's a ramen stand that has the best food you'll ever eat!"_

"_Isn't ramen bad for you?" came an out of the blue question from the pinkette._

"_I don't know, but I do know it's the best!"_

_Naruto halted abruptly, causing Sakura's entire body to slam into his back. Both fell forward and landed on the ground with the blonde's face in the dirt and the pinkette lying on top of him. _

"_Owww." Sakura said as she slowly got up and rubbed her arm._

"_Mmmahhh." came a muffled sentence from Naruto, whose face was still buried in the dirt. After a minute, he too slowly got up and repeated what he meant to say, "Owwwwww." he rubbed his nose to try and ease the pain. "Are you ok Sakura-chan?" he asked while turning around to face her._

_She nodded her head, "It could have been worse, but you cushioned my fall…why did you stop so suddendly?"_

_He began rubbing the back of his head, "Because we made it to Ichiraku's, see." he pointed toward the stand._

_She looked over the blonde's shoulder and saw their destination. It looked nice for a small stand and the food did smell good. _

"_Come on Sakura-chan lets go in, I'll introduce you to Teuchi- ojii-san and Ayame-nee-chan." Naruto said with a foxy smile, which caused the pinkette to blush._

"_O-ok." she followed close behind the small blonde with the blush still present on her face and shyness taking over her demeanor._

End flashback…

'That's right, Ichiraku's! That's his favorite place to eat, he'll definitely be there.' she excitedly thought and began walking to the infamous ramen stand.

Her thought's quickly shifted to something more important, 'What am I going to tell him?' she hadn't really thought of an explanation for her actions but then again..an explanation wouldn't be enough. She's treated him like garbage for two whole years and that can be something that's unforgivable, especially when you were practically 'best friends' before hand. 'He's sacrificed so much for me, and yet all I did was throw it right back in his face…what kind of friend does that?'

As there friendship began to fade, Sakura started to fit in to the crowd that she hated the most. Bullies, and when it came to Naruto it was the worst. The beatings that left him bruised and broken she had taken part in; there were older kids that would beat him to pulp till he was on the ground and the remaining kicked him with no mercy, Sakura included. Not only did she hurt him physically but emotionally as well. The words that came out of her mouth didn't effect the blonde at first, in fact he just thought she was trying to fit in so she wouldn't get bullied anymore. He was somewhat right, the pinkette wanted to fit in for that exact reason but it blinded her too quickly. "Idiot, annoying, stupid," evolved into words that a child shouldn't really know. The more and more she said them the easier it was to break her 'best friend.' Even though he knew she changed, he kept his smile on his face and tried his best to make her happy. But everybody has a breaking point; even one who seemed like he couldn't be broken and that's when words of his hurt and anger spewed forth, '_What have I done to you?_'…'_Gomen…for befriending you.'_

Unconditional tears began leaking from her eyes, 'I need to find him…he needs to know how much he truly means to me.'

At the training grounds….

"I still can't believe how well your grasping the concept of this technique." Tatsu whispered to himself as he threw a punch aimed for his younger brother's face.

Naruto leaned his head to the left, making the punch miss just barely. He countered with a punch of his own which was heading straight for the taller blonde's torso.

'His defenses have improved significantly since yesterday and this is only his second day of training. But his offense is still lacking, which causes his counter-attacks to leave large openings for counter-attacks of my own.' as to prove his point, he caught his brother's fist and threw him on his back.

"Oof!" was the only words that came out of Naruto's mouth due to the fact that the air was knocked out of him. 'Ugh…I thought I had him that time.' he thought.

"**Don't expect for him to let you get a hit off that easily." **Kyuubi said as a reminder.

'I know, but it just felt like I would have.' he responded while slowly getting up.

"You're defense has improved a lot otouto and it's only been two days, good job." Tatsu complimented.

Hearing that made a feeling of accomplishment swim up and down his body like a stream.

"But we have to start working on your offense as well. When you attack you leave blind spots open, which can be consequential in a fight." Tatsu explained.

Hearing those words made the previous feeling die down , changing his demeanor almost immediately which didn't go unnoticed.

Tatsu walked up to his smaller doppelganger and rested his hand on his head, "Naruto don't be sad or upset about you're mistakes or weaknesses, we all have them." he stated.

"Even you?"

"Yes, even me but my weaknesses have made me stronger and yours will too."

"But..how?"

"You'll find out in due time little brother." Tatsu assured as he retracted his hand and it fell back to it's side. "Now, let's move on shall we?"

"Right!" he excitedly said with a fist pump. "The next part is ninjutsu, right?"

The taller blonde nodded his head, 'We'll start from the ground up.' he immediately conluded. "Ok otouto, try to make a functioning bunshin for me."

Naruto's eyes went wide at the request, 'Crap, I don't know how to make a good bunshin.' he thought and it was true, at the academy the teachers would ask him to create a properly working bunshin, but when he tried to create one it would always come out flimsy and nonrealistic. Knowing this, the teachers would use him for a negative example of what not to do, the sad part about all of this…they never taught him how to make a good one. Knowing that it would turn up bad he formed his fingers into the correct hand seal, "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke covered the area in between the two and as it cleared a visible bunshin could be seen…but it wasn't a functioning one.

'I see, his chakra reserves are too vast for just a simple technique and we can thank Kyuubi-san for that…I think I know which bunshin jutsu would fit him better.'

"Alright, now I'm going to teach you to create a bunshin that…will benefit you more." Tatsu said.

'Teach me a new bunshin technique! But I can't even do the simplest one!' Naruto frantically thought.

"Trust me Naruto, you'll be able to do this one." Tatsu explained as if reading his mind. "Pay close attention." he performed an unusual handsign and in a puff of smoke a second identical tall blonde appeared right next to him. "You remember that a bunshin is a type of genjutsu, right?" his otouto nodded his head, "This variation of bunshin is strictly ninjutsu, the copy of me that you see is not an illusion but a an actual clone of me that's made out of my chakra. It's known as kage bunshin no jutsu."

'Whoa cool!' was the first thought that came to Naruto's mind.

"Now you try it." Tatsu instructed.

Nodding his head, the small blonde imitated the hand sign that was shown to him and yelled, "Kage bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow clone Jutsu!)"

Tatsu's eyes widened to a significant size because Naruto did not just create one clone but multiple, if he were to guess the numbers would be in the twenties or thirties. 'But then again I should have expected as much, even though it's an A-class jutsu his chakra is too massive and proportionally dividing his chakra into separate amounts is easier than trying to make an illusion out of it.'

Amazed would be an understatement in how Naruto was feeling at the moment, instead of just making one clone which he thought he would screw up he made a lot. 'Whoa! I…I did it! And look at how many I made!' he mentally yelled.

"Nicely done Naruto, that far outweighed my expectations." Tatsu folded his arms across his chest, "We should stop for today."

"But why? It's not even nighttime yet."

"True, but you need to get ready for tomorrow..we're leaving early in the morning."

"Cooome on Nii-san!" the small blonde's said in a complaining tone.

Tatsu chuckled a bit, "Don't worry Naruto we'll continue training once we leave."

Naruto's head dropped in defeat but that suddenly changed when he found himself on the receiving end of a not so tight headlock. "Come on otouto stop feeling so down." the taller blonde said while laughing. Naruto began laughing as well while trying to escape the headlock.

"Tatsu-kun?"

All the laughter halted and said blonde lifted his head only to find Hima-chan standing a few feet away from them.

"Uhh, hi Hima-chan." he said happily with a small wave.

"Nii-san…who is she?"

Tatsu scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Oh, right you don't know her." he released Naruto from the headlock and walked over to the violette. "Naruto Hima-chan, Hima-chan Naruto."

The violette looked at the small blonde and plastered a smile on her face. "Hi, Naruto." she waved.

Said boy took a minute to study her, as if she were being deceiving some how. After a full couple minutes of observation Naruto slowly waved back and a large smile formed on his face. "It's nice to meet you!" he said happily.

"Where did you go when I went to go see Naruto?" Tatsu asked curiously.

"I…just wanted to walk around the village. I still need to get use to the feeling of being free." she responded.

The tall blonde stared at her for a minute before he nodded his head, "Alright… Naruto you should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Ok Nii-san, see you later and nice meeting you Hima-chan!" he yelled as somehow he was already out of the training grounds waving back at the two.

At Ichiraku's…

'I'm going to miss him…I'm going to miss both of them, I hope they make back unharmed…but knowing them I'm not so sure about that.' Ayame thought, she was already worried for the two and they haven't even left yet.

"Ayame-san!"

The brunette's thought process was cut short as she averted her half-focused gaze toward a small pink-haired girl who had an anxious look on her face.

"Sakura, is something wrong?" a worried expression formed on Ayame's face.

"Have you seen Naruto anywhere?" Sakura asked desperately.

"Yes, he left the stand about ten minutes ago, why?"

"I…I just need to talk to him, do you know where he went?" she asked desperately.

"Gomen, I don't but I do know he went to go train so he may be at one of the training grounds."

"Arigato Ayame-san, see you later!" she yelled while running out of the stand.

'Hmmm…I wonder why she's so desperate to talk to him.'

Inside Naruto's apartment…

'I don't know how much I should pack, he didn't say…" Naruto thought with uncertainty.

"**I think he meant not to tell you, he's already preparing you to be a shinobi by having you make your own decisions." **Kyuubi said.

'Ooh ok, then I should pack light; don't want to slow us down.' he opened a green backpack and started packing what he had in mind, 'I wonder where we're going first.'

"**I don't know but we'll find out tomorrow, won't we?" **

Naruto nodded his head while a foxy grin sported his face. He quickly grabbed a roll up sleeping bag and tied to the top of the backpack. 'There…that should be all I need.'

"**All you packed was a single change of clothes and a sleeping bag." **

'That's basically all the pack able things I have Kyu-chan.' he said matter-of-factly.

"…" this would be another moment that Kyuubi remained silent.

'Don't worry Kyu-chan I'll be fine, plus Nii-san will be with me so it won't be that bad.'

Inside an unknown establishment…

"Hima-chan, where are we?" Tatsu asked. His eyes were currently being covered by the violette's soft hands. For the past ten minutes he was being led somewhere and Hima-chan didn't say where that 'somewhere' was. All she did say was that it was a surprise.

"You'll see just a little further."

"Come on Hima-chan, tell me…" he began to pout like a child even though his eyes were being covered.

"Ok, you can look now." she released her hands from his eyes and what she received in return was dead silence.

Upon his sight returning the blonde examined their location very thoroughly. 'Couch, kitchen, T.V., bathroom…we're in an apartment!' his eyes widened significantly, "H-how did, when did-"

"You know, I lied when I said I took a walk around the village. As for how I got it well…I bought it." she said happily.

"B-but how?"

"I know where you keep you're money." she stated simply.

The blonde sweat dropped, "O-ok…how much was it?"

"You know..I don't remember, I just payed the guy."

A bigger sweat drop formed on his head, 'I forgot, she doesn't know how to use our currency.'

"I like it!" he smiled brightly, "I guess we'll have to start buying stuff to decorate it, ne?" he asked as he continued to look around the place.

"Yea, we should do once we get back." the violette suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me, Kanojo….well I'm gonna take a shower real quick it feels like I haven't done so in days."

"Technically…you haven't."

"That's why I'm going to, care to join?" he asked nonchalantly, yet in an alluring way.

"I'm afraid not this time Tatsu-kun."

"Aww but why not?" again, the tall blonde pouted.

"I have to do some things around here tonight." she simply stated once again.

With a sigh of defeat Tatsu began walking toward the bathroom while basically stripping off his clothes, leaving Hima-chan to get a good look at his naked form before it disappeared behind the bathroom door.

The violette absent mindedly licked her lips before she went into the bedroom of the apartment and closed the door.

Outside the training grounds…

'That wasn't Naruto…he was taller and older, it was more like and older version of him.' Sakura concluded as she was trying to explain to herself what she saw.

Flashback…

'_Naruto?' Sakura questioned in thought. She thought she had found the little blonde at training ground 7, but when she snuck in and got a closer look surprise became written all over her face. He was much taller and his attire was completely different then what he normally wore, he was also with a woman and a beautiful one at that. But before she could walk out and say anything they both disappeared in the opposite direction with the woman covering the supposed 'Naruto's' eyes._

End Flashback…

'I don't know who that was but I shouldn't worry about it right now, Naruto's the one I'm concerned for but I have no idea where he is.' the pinkette began walking in the direction to her home. 'I might as well call it a day and look for him tomorrow. I'll find you Naruto and I'll fix my mistake, I promise.'

END CHAPTER 6

Hey folks, I'm sorry this story is going slow so far but I needed to explain a lot of things…hell I still need to.

"Then why don't you?"

I'm going to dammit, just hold on I can't just smoosh everything into one chapter…

"But the people are probably getting bored of the story."

You're probably right and I apologize for that, but after the next chapter things will start to speed up significantly and there will be a lot more action involved.

"Ok, but I still think you should explain everything in one chapter."

Naruto I'm not going to listen to you…don't you remember you're nine.

"I'm not going to be for long."

Huh? What do you mean by that?

"You should know Kotov nii-chan, this is _your _story."

I know it is, but that doesn't mean you'll be getting any older.

"We'll see about that, next thing you know I'll be taller and way more awesome than you!"

Yea, but I'm afraid you'll still be an idiot.

"What!"

Nothing, nothing…anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter and again I apologize for the slow progress of the story…try to stay tuned for the next chapter if you're not drooling by now.

This is KotovSynd-

"And Naruto!"

Stupid nine-year old shrimp, blonde headed, annoying…till next time.


	8. Goodbyes

Hola once again and here is the new chapter to 'Savior' enjoy…

"That's it?"

Yea it is, why?

"That was lame!"

I don't really have anything to say.

"Then let me say something!"

Ok go ahead, no one is stopping you.

"Right, hello everybody if you didn't know I'm Naruto-"

Yea, a Naruto that's a figment of my imagination.

"Hey!…anyway I think Kotov-niichan is running out of things to say to you guys, so I think I'll be taking over the narration from now on."

Over my dead body! I have things to say…I just don't want to say them…

"You're lieing Nii-chan…"

No I'm not…

"I can tell.."

…..

"…."

Ok, ok…*sigh* you're right, I don't know what to say to the people anymore.

"Then let me speak for you."

Ok, but I swear to Kami if you say anything stupid-

"I won't, jeez have faith in me…. Right, me and Kotov-niichan appreciate the reviews to the story as well as its readers. I know this is our first story but we hope it's up to par with you're expectations and if it's not then we apologize. Now without further or do, enjoy the new chapter to 'Savior.'"

Well said Naruto…I'm impressed.

"Thanks Nii-chan!"

Hahaha no problem, well you guys heard the kid. Enjoy the new chapter.

"Oh and Kotov-niichan does not own Naruto or any of it's characters!"

Chapter 7: Goodbyes

Light once again started to peak over the horizon of Konoha, casting it's bright rays over its landscape. As if an alarm went off in Tatsu's head, he slowly opened his eyes. 'Mmm…Morning already?' he averted his gaze toward the window to see light peeking through it, giving confirmation to his assumption. 'I guess I should get up and get dressed.' came an obvious thought.

He carefully maneuvered himself free from Hima-chan's grasp and was now sitting up on the edge of the bed. He briefly turned his head to admire the beauty of the woman that lay before him.

With her warmth gone her dreamy expression changed to one of disappointment in which Tatsu almost laughed at. Turning his head back around, he carefully stood up and walked into the bathroom right across from their bed. He lazily flipped on the light switch and walked in front of the mirror. Looking at himself for a brief second he turned on the faucet and splashed water on his, causing him to wake up more and become aware of his surroundings. Upon looking at himself in the mirror again, he became shocked.

'W-what's this?' There, on the right side of his chest was a fairly large…tattoo. It was in the form of a fox and not only was it displayed on his chest, but it ran down his ribs and ended on the right side of his lower back. 'How did I get thi-…last night.' a smile formed on his face as he recalled the events of the previous day.

Flashback…

'_It feels good to take an actual shower.' came a simple thought that crossed Tatsu's mind. As his mind explained, he was currently in the shower allowing the water to run freely down his body. 'But then again, those springs were really relaxing.' He put his hand on the wall and lowered his head, letting the water run down his neck and back. 'Naruto's probably excited about this trip…this'll be the first time he's ever been out of the village.' He turned the knobs to the shower off which halted the down poor of water and lazily reached for the towel that was hanging on a hook adjacent from the shower. He carefully wiped himself down and wrapped the towel around his waist before he exited the bathroom. 'I wonder why Hima-chan didn't want to take a shower with me, she's usually the one who jumps at the chance.' He wondered as he walked down the hall way toward their new bedroom. 'She must have went to sleep…' he concluded only because the outline of the bedroom door wasn't illuminated. _

_The tall blonde finally reached the door and opened it slowly; hoping to not wake his lover. He took one step in and froze in place. Hima-chan wasn't sleeping, in fact she was wide awake and staring directly at him with a loving gaze. You see, she was lying on the bed in a prone position with her hands propping her head up. Her feet were swinging back and forth behind her but the most obvious thing about her current state was that…she was naked, her body was bare of any clothing. _

_A smile formed on her face upon seeing the tall blonde enter the room. 'Tonight I'll secure our bond.' _

"_Hima-chan?" Tatsu was thoroughly confused. 'Why is she naked…and laying on the bed?' at that current thought he smacked his forehead. 'Kami, why am I thinking like an idiot?'_

_Before he could even comprehend what was happening, the violette was already in front of him with her arms wrapped around his neck. Complying to the action, he slowly brought up his arms and wrapped them around her waist. _

"_Is there something wrong?" he asked softly, not knowing what was really going on._

"_Yea." she confirmed. "I haven't marked you yet." _

"_Marked…me?" his confusion was spread like wildfire._

_Hima-chan nodded, "It's a way to truly secure our bond."_

_Before he could respond a pair of lips covered his own and flushed away any thought that entered his mind. He reacted to the kiss and immediately retaliated with as much love and passion as his lover._

_Still interlocked in the kiss, Hima-chan lead herself and her 'mate' to the bed and laid down, dragging him along with her. Hima-chan now lay on her back with the tall blonde hovering over top of her. She severed the kiss and by looking into his eyes she could tell that he trusted her completely, but doubt still lingered within her heart._

_She turned he head slightly but kept her eyes on his, "Tatsu-kun…I understand if you don't want me to-" she was cut off by the blue-eyed man as he kissed her passionately._

"_You know, for as smart as you are you can be a real baka sometimes." Tatsu said as he broke away from the kiss with a small smile on his face._

_The violette giggled at his words for those were the same exact ones she said to him, right after she received her freedom._

_Putting her arms around his neck she pulled him down into another passionate kiss and before Tatsu knew it, his towel fell off his waist leaving him exposed. Hima-chan instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed him into her, causing his hardened member to enter her core. Both gasped in pleasure, while Tatsu picked his love up and sat down on the bed with her straddling him. Again they broke the kiss and Hima-chan spoke through the moans being administered through their actions, "Koibito, are you ready?" _

"_As ready as I'll ever be." he smiled._

_A smile found its way on the violette's face even though the pleasure from their actions intensified. She once again wrapped her arms around his neck but this time she buried her face in said appendage. The red-eyed vixen planted butterfly kisses on a particular spot of his neck before she bared her canines, which grew a couple inches, and sunk her teeth in that same spot._

_At first, it was pain that Tatsu felt as an inaudible grunt escaped from his mouth but as soon as that pain came it vanished, leaving a warm feeling to take its place. 'Weird…' was the thought he used to describe it._

_The violette retracted her teeth and began licking the wound clean of the blood that was streaming out. Lasting only a few seconds, she lifted her head and once again enveloped him in a passionate kiss. At that exact moment the blonde and the violette gasped passionately as they both reached there climax._

Flashback end…

'So this is what she meant by marking me.' Tatsu thought off-handedly.

His thoughts were broken by his lover, who wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed her body into his bare back. "I see you've discovered the marking." she smiled softly.

"It's…noticeable." he responded.

"Do you know why?"

"It has to do with how strong our bond is, ne?"

Hima-chan nodded her head , "You know this means you belong to me." she said jokingly.

Tatsu just chuckled at the statement, "Kanojo, I was yours right from the start."

The violette subconsciously tightened the embrace.

Naruto's apartment…

"Today's the day!" Naruto exuberantly shouted as he shot out of his bed and into the bathroom. 'I need to hurry up and get ready before Nii-san gets here.'

'**Naru-kun, you do know that your brother never told you the exact time he was coming right?' **Kyuubi voiced sounding lazy as she spoke, most likely from just waking up.

'That's all the more reason to hurry, he could be on his way right now!'

Kyuubi elicited a laugh, **'That's my Naru-kun, always so excited.'**

At the Haruno Residence…

"Sakura? Why are you up so early?" Mrs. Haruno asked as she watched her daughter dash down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"I have to look for someone today…and it may take me all day to find him." came her response.

"Oh…and who is this person you're looking for?"

"His name is Naruto…I-I have to find him." she answered once again but this time her voice held less determination.

Mrs. Haruno's eyes widened at the given answer. Why was she looking for Naruto? Weren't they best of friends, so they should have seen each other daily or something along those lines. "I thought you two were very close?"

"We…I want us to be, we were before and…that's how I want it again." a few memories flashed in her mind of the times she spent with the small blonde. But there was a particular one that stood out.

Flashback…

"_Welcome to the top of the Hokage Monument, Sakura-chan." Naruto said happily with a foxy smile plastered on his face._

'_Beautiful…' was the only thought that went through the pinkette's mind. The grassy field portrayed just how peaceful the sight was and the view it gave may it a perfect place for relaxation. "Do you come up here everyday?"_

"_Only when I can, it helps me relax." he answered._

_A smile formed on her face as she turned around to look at the 'never-sad' blonde. A small blush accompanied the smile, 'He's always so kind and happy…not to mention goofy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.'_

"_So do you like it up here Sakura-chan?" _

_She nodded her head in confirmation with the blush still in place, "It's beautiful." she voiced her thought from earlier._

"…_I'm glad you think so…Arigato Sakura-chan for coming with me." Naruto gave a small smile with a blush ever so present on his face._

"_No Naruto…Arigato for bringing me with you." the pinkette had a smile that matched the blonde's and the blush never left her face._

End flashback….

Sakura's eyes widened, "Of course, why didn't I look there before?"

"Look where honey?" the older of the two was thoroughly confused.

"Sorry okaa-san, but I have to go!" Sakura began rushing out of the kitchen and toward the front door, all the while waving back at her mother. "I'll see you later!"

"Be careful!" Mrs. Haruno yelled back.

Konoha marketplace…

'Glad to see this area is still the same.' thought a happy Tatsu as he walked down the market district of Konoha toward his otouto's house. 'I'm also glad to see that both of us are getting by unnoticed.' the blonde looked over at his lover whom was no longer a violette but a pinkette. She still had those stunning red eyes and her attire was the same, minus the armor plates.

"Tatsu-kun…" the pinkette whispered.

"Hmmm? What is it Hima-chan?"

"I'm glad that we're henged and everything, but why did you make my hair pink…wouldn't that attract too much attention?"

"I don't think so." he simply answered.

"Tatsu-kun…" her voice became annoyed.

The now tall black-haired, blue-eyed man put his hands up in defense, "I swear, I think you fit right in."

Hima-chan, though annoyed, nodded and turned her attention back to the road ahead of them.

Giving a sigh of relief, he too turned his gaze toward the road and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I hope Naruto is ready because we have a long walk ahead of us."

"Come on, it won't be that bad." Hima-chan chided.

"I'm not saying it's going to be bad, just long."

"It was you're idea Koibito."

"I know and I think it's a good idea, this is the best way to train him…plus I'll be able to be there for him, just like a brother should be." the tall henged man said with a wide grin on his face.

The pinkette giggled at his expression but admired his statement, he was determined to give Naruto a family he should have had since the day he was born. The characteristics of this man walking beside her reminded her of just how she fell in love with him.

At Ichiraku's…

"Hey Anko, long time no see." Greeted a rather calm and content Ayame as she saw her friend walk up to the counter and take a seat.

"Hey Ayame, it has been a while." the purple-headed, brown-eyed Tokubetsu (special) jounin greeted back. Her attire consisted of a tan overcoat, complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs as well as a dark orange mini-skirt, a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord rather than a chain to prevent it from being easily torn off in combat, a wrist watch, and shin guards. She also sported a dark blue belt around her waist that connects to her skirt that has an appendage-like sash. Finally, her hitai-ate was securely fastened around her forehead.

"What will you have?" Ayame asked awaiting the order.

"One mismo ramen." she stated in a melancholic voice.

Ayame's expression grew soft; memories can greatly effect a person and Anko was no exception. She was usually outgoing, brash, and rebellious much like Naruto but the memories of one man changed her personality completely.

'It's been nine years…nine years since he died…' Anko's expression became grim and her eyes seemed to be devoid of any emotion. 'Tatsu…'

Flashback 3 months before Naruto's birth…

"_I bet you can't catch me!" Anko yelled as she ran pass her companion and toward an open field, laughing all the while._

"_You can run as fast as you can Anko-chan, but you know I'll get you!" Tatsu yelled. Without a second thought the thirteen year-old blonde began his pursuit of his 'runaway' friend. _

_Anko, determined to prove the blonde wrong, poored chakra into her feet causing her speed to increase significantly. She looked over her shoulder to see if her pursuer was behind her, but there was no sign of him. "Ha! Looks like I'm too fast for you!" _

"_I don't think so."_

_She quickly shot her head forward only to see the blonde right in front of her with his arms open and his legs bent as if in a catching position. Anko quickly tried to slow herself down to a complete stop but she failed and as a consequence ended up being caught in the blonde's arms. Both of them were sent hurdling over a hill and began rolling down it with both of them still wrapped in each others arms. Laughter rang out of their lungs until they finally came to a stop at the bottom of the slope._

"_Haha…I told you…hahaha…I would catch you!" Tatsu said in-between laughs, unaware of the compromising position both himself and Anko were in._

"_Hahaha…that wasn't fair…hahaha!" Anko responded through laughter as well, she too was unaware of the position they were in._

_Minutes passed and the laughter died down, causing the two to open their eyes. Immediately they both began to blush as Anko found herself on top of the blue-eyed boy with her face centimeters away from his own._

Flashback interrupted…

"Thinking about _him_, Anko?" Teuchi's daughter asked.

"Yea, you know me too well." came the answer in a melancholic voice.

"You know he wouldn't want you like this."

Anko released a saddened laugh, "You're probably right but…it's hard…" Ayame had by now put the bowl of ramen in front of her. She proceeded to snap her chopsticks in half and stir the noodles in the bowl. "I never thought I could trust anyone in this village because of how they treated me." she took a chopstick full of noodles and put it in her mouth before chewing and swallowing it. "But then he came along and showed me how to trust again…"

Ayame has never seen the kunoichi cry before but today would be an exception as a few stray tears came out of her eyes. "… I made him promise me something the day before the attack."

The brunette stopped her current activity of washing dishes and turned around to face the emotionally distraught woman, "What sort of promise?"

A sad genuine smile graced her lips, "I made him promise to never leave me, even though he was in Anbu and knowing the dangers of it, I made him promise me that."

"Anko…" Ayame walked around the counter and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "He hasn't left you…he'll always be with you."

The purplette nodded her head in confirmation, "I know…but sometimes I wish he was still here…physically I mean."

Ayame had to hold in the temptation of telling her that the tall blonde that they both loved so much was still alive and in the village. She made a promise to him just before they parted ways at the Hokage Monument.

Flashback…

"_Ayame before you leave, can you promise me one thing?" asked Tatsu._

"_Of course I can Tatsu-kun, what is it?"_

"_Don't tell anyone that I'm alive, I'll do that myself…they deserve it from me after all the grief and sadness I caused them."_

_Ayame looked reluctant for a second but slowly nodded her head, "I promise."_

Flashback end…

"Hey Ayame-chan!" came the loud and excited voice of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Naruto, I thought you were leaving?" Ayame asked but quickly put her hand to her mouth in realization of what she just revealed.

Anko spun around in her stool with a look of surprise on her face, "You're leaving you little runt, why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a half angry half shocked tone.

"Ah! Anko-neechan? I-I'm sorry I didn't know i-it was that important." Now Naruto loved and respected his 'nee-chan' but he knew better than to get on her bad side, Kami knows what'll she'll do when she's angry.

The seemingly angry kunoichi caught him in a headlock and began scruffing up his hair, "Of course it's important baka, you should tell your nee-chan when you're leaving, where are you going?"

Ayame, though still covering her mouth, watched the exchange between the two and couldn't help but giggle, 'That's the Anko that I know.'

"Haha, Nee-chan I'll tell you if you let me go!" the small blonde pleaded.

Anko continued her ministrations even after the request, only after a few seconds did she relent, "Ok but you better tell me the truth!"

"Ok!" he put his hands up in defense, "I'm going on a training trip outside of the village, I don't know how long it'll be but I do know I'll come back stronger than ever!" he finished his proclamation with a fist pump.

"Oh really now, and who's the one that's going to train and watch over you so you don't get in any mess?" asked a very curious Anko.

And as if Kami himself planned on giving her an answer, Naruto's 'sensei' walked into the stand, "Hey Ayame…-chan…?" the now tall blonde looked at said brunette with a confused expression, 'Why is she looking at me like that?' her eyes were wide and her hand was covering her mouth. She suddenly averted her gaze in the direction to the right of him.

He followed the gaze only to find himself looking into another set of brown eyes. He began grasping the details of the person in front of him, 'Brown eyes, purple hair, tan overcoat…oh crap…'

Anko's eyes were as wide as dinner plates and tears immediately began running down them. But these tears weren't out of happiness, you see they were out of pure anger. 'He's…he's alive…' No words were said as Anko immediately through a punch aimed for the tall blonde's skull.

Tatsu calmly through his hand up and caught the incoming attack. Before anyone knew it they both disappeared in a flash of white.

At an open field right outside of Konoha…

Her vision remained blurry for a few seconds before it finally focused on the man a few feet away from her. One second she was in Ichiraku's throwing a punch at the man she thought dead…or maybe it was an imposter Kami if she knew, but then the next second she's in a field, only a few feet away from this person.

"What the…how did we get hear!" she yelled with anger ever so present in her voice.

"Come on Anko-chan, I brought you here, don't you remember the technique I used to always catch you when we were younger?" came the saddened yet teasing tone of Tatsu Uzumaki.

That concludes it…this was definitely _her_ Tatsu, only he would remember the games they played as children. "You…you bastard, you're alive? How? We all saw you die!" So many questions, yet no answers.

Tatsu flinched at her aggressiveness but answered nonetheless, "Anko it's a long story-" he was interrupted as he moved his head to the side to dodge an incoming punch. Anko quickly followed up with a kick to the head which he ducked under and countered with a sweep kick.

She jumped back to avoid the low hit and began performing hand signs, "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Fire)!" Flames shout from the kunoichi's mouth and went flying toward the intended blonde target.

Naruto's nii-san performed hand seals of his own, "Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki (Water Style: Water Tornado)!" seemingly out of nowhere a well-sized tornado made of water formed and charged forward in collision of the fire stream. Both elements came into contact causing both to cancel out and revert into steam.

Anko's eyes widen again and shock took over her anger, 'How…how did he do that, there wasn't a water source around!'

"Precipitation, from the clouds…whether you know it or not there is water all around us… some of it visible…most of it not." Tatsu explained as if he read her mind.

Anger once again clouded her reasoning and she quickly shunshined in front of the tall blonde with a kick aimed for his ribs. Tatsu blocked with his left arm and countered with a palm to the stomach. Anko was pushed away a few feet by the force but didn't feel any pain.

"Concentrated chakra expulsion, I formed a concentrated amount of chakra in the tenketsu point of my hand and released it on your stomach. It has the effects of a powerful punch minus the factor of pain." he stated.

"You bastard!"

Tatsu once again flinched at the anger of his precious person but held his ground. Anko held her hand out with her palm facing the sky and her fingers curled, in a general case she was forming a jutsu.

The tall blonde stood there, rooted to the spot awaiting her next move and at that moment is when surprise became written all over his face. Within Anko's curled hand formed a ball, that seemed to be made out of concentrated chakra. It was blue in color and it was growing at an alarming rate.

'She finally mastered it…you know if we were on better terms I would say I couldn't be more proud of her…' a small smile graced his lips as he readied for the attack.

"Rasengan (If you don't know this technique I swear to Kami…)!" Anko once again shushined right in front of Tatsu and thrusted the swirling ball forward, intent on hitting him in the stomach.

The tall blonde thrusted his hand out as if he were trying to catch the ball. To the shock of the angered Anko he did just that…cupping his hand and curling his fingers he caught the oncoming attack and basically stripped it out of her hands. The rioting wind ball was now in his hand and a second later it disappeared more than likely from a cancellation.

Next thing she knew, Anko found herself in an embrace with her head and hands on the blonde's chest. With anger still alive in her being she struggled to free herself, but Tatsu held on tightly, allowing her no escape. That once lively anger started to dissipate as the punches to the chest began to die down and sobs became audible to both of their ears.

Tatsu has seen _his_ Anko cry, a few times in fact, when they were children. He was always there for her when she did and this time would be no different.

Through the cries and sobs the purple-headed ninja began to speak, "Why?"

There was that question again, that had such an affect on him, "I had to…for Naruto and for the village."

"For Naruto! For the village! You left everybody behind and for what!"

"To protect all of you…" was Tatsu's simple answer.

Anko's eyes widened even though there were tears still in them, "To…protect us…?" she repeated.

The tall blonde nodded his head, "Other villages…our enemies would have taken advantage of our weakened state and…enemies of my family would have taken my brother." he spoke sadly. "Those enemies turned out to be one in the same and…in order to eliminate them I had to eliminate myself."

Realization began to dawn on the woman in his arms, "So you faked your own death…in order to infiltrate their own systems."

Once again Tatsu nodded his head in confirmation. It made sense and no longer was there rage filled in her heart but love and happiness. "You baka…"

"Hmm?" questioned the tall blonde.

"Orokana baka (Stupid idiot)…"

Tatsu chuckled, "Yea…I know."

Back at Ichiraku's…

"I hope they're ok." Ayame stated worriedly.

"Don't worry Ayame-neechan, they'll be fine!" Naruto reassured enthusiastically.

As if right on cue a white flash illuminated the stand/restaurant and both Tatsu and Anko appeared…in each others arms.

Ayame, upon seeing their position, became a little jealous but the thought of the two being able to work things out exalted that feeling.

Naruto, figuring it was a family moment thing, jumped on his brother's shoulders to try and get in on the hug.

As soon as Naruto joined in, both hugging members immediately separated with blushes on their face and with the small blonde still on the taller blonde's back. "Hehe, s-sorry Ayame-chan."

Said brunette waved off the apology and walked toward the back of the stand.

"Alright Nii-san, are you ready to go!" asked an excited Naruto, who mind you, was still receiving a piggy-back ride.

"Yea I am but let's say goodbye to everybody first, ne?"

"Right!" Naruto jumped off his brother's back and quickly gave Anko a hug on her legs, "Goodbye Nee-chan, I'll miss you!"

Wiping the remaining tears from her eyes she patted the little blonde on the head, "I'll miss you too you little squirt, take care of your big brother."

"I will! He won't die on my watch!"

Tatsu palmed his forehead, "Not you too!"

"Bye Ayame-neechan, I'll see you soon and tell Teuchi-ojiisan the same thing!" Naruto shouted toward the back.

Ayame came rushing out with a bag over her shoulder, which she placed on the counter. "Here take these with you, they should last you a good month if Naruto doesn't eat them all." chided the smiling brunette.

"I would be more worried about Tatsu eating them all." Anko said in sarcasm.

Said blonde face faulted at the comment, "This isn't fair at all!"

Naruto's eyes widened because in the bag was a well amount of instant ramen packages ranging from mismo to chicken. "T-thanks Nee-chan!"

"Alright Naruto, I think we should get going; we have a long road ahead of us." Tatsu said in a serious voice.

"Right! Sayanoura you two!" Naruto waved before rushing out of the stand.

Packing the bag of ramen in a sealing scroll Tatsu waved as well and began walking out of the stand only to be stopped by Anko, whom grabbed him bye the shoulder. "You better come back Tatsu-kun, because if you don't…" she put her mouth right next to his ear, "I'll hunt you down." her tone was almost bittersweet, which gave the blonde shivers.

"R-right." was his only response before the purple-headed kunoichi playfully bit him on the neck causing him to moan…or growl in pleasure.

"Same goes for me Tatsu-kun." Ayame added in her two cents.

"O-ok." with that said Tatsu nervously walked out of the stand, not noticing the smiles on both of the girls faces.

Just inside the main gates of Konoha…

'This is getting bad…I can't find him, what if he…what if he left and didn't want to come back?' thought a distraught Sakura. She was currently in search of her precious person, but luck doesn't seem to be on her side. 'No…he wouldn't…would he?'

She unconsciously glanced at the main gate, her imagination toying with her as all of the people entering and exiting Konoha faded into darkness and a figure with bright blonde hair stood out, walking away from the village. Shaking her head to abolish these thoughts reality came back and she once again stared at the pathway leading out of the village. This time she saw a mop of blonde hair…and it wasn't her imagination for that one person turned around and gave the village one last look before turning back and running away.

Tears immediately formed in the pinkette's eyes and only one thought crossed her mind…

'It's all my fault.'

END CHAPTER 7

Awesome, I finished the chapter!

"You did, but it took you long enough!"

Hey! I got my wisdom teeth pulled out and I felt like shi-mmph

"Kotov-niichan, don't curse, it's bad if you do."

Says who!

"Me!"

And who are you to me!

"You're otouto!"

But I'm an only child!

"No you're not, you always had me… you just didn't know it."

Bullshi-

"Nii-chan don't curse!"

What'll happen if I do, huh!

"…Kami will strike you with lightning."

…Hahahahahahaha

"What, it's true! I've seen it happen before!"

Hahahaha…you're…you're serious aren't you…Hahahahaha

"….Fine, next time you try to curse I won't save you…"

Hahaha…ok..haha…then don't, I bet you I'll be just fine.

"And I bet you, you won't"

We'll see "little brother" we'll see…Anyway I again want to thank all the readers for being patient in waiting for the new chapters to the story and in reading it. Now, I still need to know if you guys and girls want me to kill off Tatsu. If you want me too I just have to change some things…if you don't, the story will continue as planned so please comment a yes or no and I think I still have a poll open for that question. Also I have the first few chapters to the prequel already written out but I won't be posting those until I finish this one….which might take a while….cause of college. This is Kotov-niich-…gah I mean KotovSyndrome saying, Sayanoura and take it easy!


	9. Helpless

Hey everybody, I'm back with another chapter and I hope you enjoy because this one I kind of winged it.

Also my imagination has just entered relax mode and Nar-

"Nope, I'm still here."

Dammit!

"You can't get rid of me that easily Nii-chan!"

The hell I can't.

"Meh, start the story already, you're making the readers bored."

*sigh* Fine, fine here's the next chapter to 'Savior'…

"Yea! And Kotov-niichan does not own Naruto or its characters!"

Chapter 8: Helpless

'Four years…four years and we're finally heading back home.' Thought a thirteen year-old blonde boy. He was sitting down on a log that was adjacent to a camp fire set up by himself and his older brother.

'Speaking of which, I wonder where he is.' His older sibling hadn't returned nor did he give a specific implication of where he was going.

"Hey Naruto!" came the happy voice of Hima-chan, who walked up from the base of the camp. She hasn't changed much in the past four years. She still wore her normal outfit, but instead of the armored plates being red they were white with a gold fox embroidered on them. Her hair was still long and violet, but it was tied up in a ponytail. Finally, she still had those vibrant red eyes that could look into your very soul.

"Ohayo Hima-chan, what's up?" Naruto asked in a neutral tone. The blue-eyed teen had changed a significant amount over the trip. He wore a plain orange shirt along with fingerless black gloves that had no plating in them. Next he had on loose black pants that had an orange stripe running down the side of each leg. The stripe was accompanied with a thin white outline that offset the orange. On his feet were black shinobi sandals that were more lightweight than normal. A kunai pouch was strapped to his right thigh for storage of small items and finally a smaller pouch could be found on his left leg, just a little lower than the one on his right. He wasn't as loud and hyperactive as he used to be; in fact the only time he showed that side of him was when he was around people he was familiar with. Even then he mostly remained calm and collected. How he changed, well…it must have been from the training or from growing up.

The violette just shrugged with a smile on her face. "Are you ready to train?" she asked; her tone still happy.

Naruto nodded his head in compliance and stood up, disappearing into the trees and off to the training grounds.

In Amegakure…

'How dull…' thought Tatsu as his sour mood increased due to the nonstop rain that was pouring down on the village. Ever since he entered the gates he's been miserable, who knew a village that was supposed to be beautiful can be so…not beautiful. 'The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get out of here.'

His thoughts quickly shifted over to his brother. 'It's been four years and he's grown tremendously in strength and intelligence.' His face contorted into a worried expression, 'I think the training affected his personality more than it should have…he's too calm now-a-days and I miss my knuckleheaded brother.' He turned from the street he was on and ended up on the main road that led into the market district. 'He only acts like he use to around people he trusts…but other than he's not…Naruto.'

'Well, the sooner I get done here, the better. This place is too miserable for me.' He thought on a brighter note.

At a field not too far from the campsite…

"Rasengan!" yelled Naruto as he thrusted the destructive chakra ball into a large boulder. Upon impact, the piece of rock shattered into thousands of pieces leaving behind only pebbles of what it used to be.

Hima-chan was sitting on a near-by rock, observing the changed teen. 'He's come a long way.' She smiled down at her observant before jumping off the rock and walking toward him.

"Good Naruto, now try to put one in both of your hands." Was the command given by the violette.

Nodding, Naruto summoned two kage bunshin's whom began performing the intended task. Both of the original blonde's arms were outstretched to the side and in no more than a few seconds a visible ball of chakra formed in both of his hands.

The chakra balls remained in his hands for a couple minutes before they dispersed into thin air.

"Well done Naruto, that's it for today so let's head back to camp." She began walking toward the intended location. "When Tatsu-kun gets back, we'll see what's next for you in your training."

With a bright grin Naruto followed the violette back to the campsite.

Back in Amegakure…

'It seems like I've reached a dead end.' Tatsu thought. His path led him to an open area, circular in shape. Railings surrounded the edges for prevention of falling off and down into the shoreline. Finally, walls landscaped themselves right beside the only entrance and exit.

"Man…" he said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "I guess my trail runs cold again." He followed up with a short sigh. "I guess it's back to square one."

He turned around to leave only to find himself barely dodging some sort of weapon. He quickly tried a counter attack with a 'Rasengan' aimed for the attackers back, but it failed because another strike came toward his mid-chest.

'Where did this guy come from?' the blonde wondered as he twisted his torso and avoided the attack. With his 'Rasengan' still in hand he shot it forward at the second attackers face, resulting in a direct hit. The body was sent flying backwards into the wall with a sickening thud and then fell lifelessly to the ground.

Now standing at full height, Tatsu caught eye of his opponent whose back was facing him. He wore a cloak, specifically one with red clouds displayed on it and that only confirmed one thing, 'Akatsuki.' Tatsu thought in a neutral manner. The figure's hair was spiky just like his own, but instead of being blonde, it was orange. Finally, Tatsu concluded that his opponent was about the same height as himself.

"I see you've managed to find our base of operations." The figure finally spoke.

"It seems I have." Tatsu responded in a happy tone. "But you need to work on your greetings."

The figure stood silent for a moment, before he turned around, revealing his face and other features.

A smirk formed on the blonde's face, "So it is you…Jiraiya has told me a lot about you…Pain."

Said person remained silent and his expression was stoic. Unceremoniously, the orange-haired Akatsuki lifted his hand so that his palm was facing Tatsu. Without warning, the blonde's body flew toward him.

'What the hell?' was the only thought that came to mind before Tatsu felt an intense pain in his abdomen. He was being held by the neck and what looked like a black pole or rod was impaled through his stomach. Blood was pouring out of the wound at a rapid rate and Tatsu's face scrunched up in pain.

"You know our true motives, do you not?" Pain asked in a neutral tone.

"I'd be lying if I said no." was the smartass response from the injured shinobi. He coughed up blood before continuing, "You won't succeed, this plan of yours…will be your downfall."

Once again silence reigned throughout the area. Pain's grip tightened around Tatsu's neck causing the blonde to cough more. Finally, the Akatsuki member spoke, "Two other members are on their way to capture your brother; soon the Kyuubi will be extracted."

Tatsu's eyes widened in fear, 'Dammit! I need to get to him before they do!' With that thought, the fear instantly vanished. His eyes hardened and his expression held no emotion, "You won't take him from me, I'll kill you before I let that happen."

"Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)." Was the only response and before the blonde knew it, his body was sent hurling toward a wall. Pain watched his opponent fly toward the intended destination, but right before his victim could hit the wall a flash of white momentarily blinded him. When his sight returned, there was no body to be found.

Not far from the campsight…

Tatsu's body was flying through brushes and trees before his back finally slammed into a boulder, causing the object impaling him to shoot out through his stomach. His body bounced off the large piece of rock and he landed face first on the forest floor, leaving him in prone position. Blood form the wound continued to poor out at an alarming rate, but despite that he picked himself up and slowly but surely began walking toward his otouto and Hima-chan, having every intention of saving them.

'I will protect them, even if it costs my life…'

At the campsite…

"Ji-on-gu." Naruto's opponent quietly said and almost immediately his hands shot out from his sleeves. What shocked the teen was that the distance between them was vast and the odd attacker's hands were being propelled by black…tentacles?

'What the hell?' he thought as he jumped to the left and avoided the attack. He skidded across the ground before he came to a stop but quickly ducked under a swipe that was intended to bash him in the head. He quickly flashed through a few hand signs and brought his hand to his mouth, "Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" and with one big exhale wind shot from his mouth, destroying every tree and brush in its path.

His opponent jumped in the air avoiding the attack. That's when surprise and shock was written all over the strange attackers face because right in front of him was Naruto, with a swirling ball of chakra in his hand.

'Gotcha.' Thought the blonde, "Rasengan!" he thrust the attack forward, hitting his opponent right in the gut. The body went flying, swirling and breaking through trees until it skidded on the ground and finally came to a stop.

Landing on the ground, Naruto dusted himself off and turned in the direction where Hima-chan could be seen fighting another odd opponent that had a three-bladed scythe as a weapon. The only reason he could see the two was the fact that Hima-chan's destructive fighting abilities laid waste to any object in her path, leaving a clearing for almost all to see.

Just as he was about to dash off to aid her, a loud roar erupted from behind him. The blonde turned around and caught sight of his opponent transforming. Black tentacles shot out from the not-dead body, swirling and forming around the radius of the area in which it lay. The body slowly rose and set itself at the center of the wall of tentacles and without warning, a large spear made of lightning shot forth, intending on piercing the blonde's body.

In a vast clearing not far from Naruto's current location….

'Who or what is this woman?' thought a panicked Hidan as he barely dodged another stream of lightning. It was odd but terrifyin; the lightning wasn't the color of what lightning should be, it was pure black and it seemed to home in on him. He was already injured and his Akatsuki cloak was ripped to shreds, only leaving his torso bare with his Jashin amulet and his Yugakure hitai-ite hanging from his neck. Loose shinobi pants hung on his legs and Shinobi sandals covered his feet.

'I haven't had a chance to attack her yet; all I've been doing is running!' he thought angrily. As soon as that thought ended the violette was already in his face, engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. Hidan ducked and dodged her incoming kicks and punches, the only problem was that she wasn't leaving an opening for a counterattack. A kick shot forth toward his face and his only defense was to bring his weapon up and block the attack. The kick hit the shaft of the three-bladed scythe and successfully blocked it; the only problem was that Hidan found himself flying backwards until he came to a stop on the ground. Next thing he knew, he was being impaled by two blades made out of pure lightning with the violette right on top of him. One blade pierced his chest while the other pierced his stomach. A loud grunt was heard and blood began pouring from his mouth.

'That was fun!' Hima-chan thought happily as she jumped backwards and landed a few feet away from her opponent. She began to slowly turn around in the direction of where Naruto was fighting, 'I hope Naruto is-' her thoughts were severed as she found herself falling to the ground and hearing a loud grunt as a splash of blood decorated itself on her face and torso.

Back with Naruto…

Naruto's eyes widened as the lightning spear flew straight past him. He quickly turned to see where the path of the projectile would end, and horror struck his being as the intended target was the same person who trained with him right before the battle started.

"Hima-chan!"

There was nothing he could do; Kami knows he can't make it in time to save her, he just wasn't _that _fast. The next thing that happened almost made the blonde drop to his knees; his brother had pushed the violette out of the way, causing the spear to hit him straight in the chest. Tatsu was sent flying backwards until he came to an erupt stop, pinned to a tree.

'Hehehe, one down two to go.' Thought Kakuzu menacingly. His attention turned back to the alive blonde in front of him. His prey's fist were clenched and when the Kyuubi Jinchūriki turned around his eyes were not visible due to his hair overshadowing them. But what was visible was red chakra and it was rising at a rapid rate.

"**Naru-kun, you have to stay calm. You're rage is allowing my chakra to take over your body." **Kyuubi's plea fell to deaf ears as a transparent coating of red chakra began to layer the blonde's skin.

'So this is the power of the Kyuubi.' Kakuzu thought. He readied himself for any attack the Jinchūriki would throw at him.

Naruto lifted his head to display rage filled eyes that were blood red. The coating of chakra had now fully enveloped his being and two chakra tails could be seen behind him, waving in all their glory.

With inhumane speed, the enraged blonde disappeared and then reappeared right in front of Kakuzu's face with a punch already flying toward the for mentioned body part. Not having time to react the Akatsuki member took the hit, making his body fling back but he was still in place due to the tentacles suspending him in the air.

The Kyuubified Naruto once again vanished out of thin air, only to reappear to the right of the tentacle wall. In one swift motion he flung his hand in an uppercut style with his fingers curled. A claw, completely made out of red chakra followed that motion and cut the right portion of the wall clear in half. This also caused it to incinerate due to the red chakra's potent attribute.

Kakuzu fell to the ground viciously, landing on the right side of his body. The remainder of the tentacles began to retreat back into the fallen man's back until there was no trace of them. Naruto began to walk slowly toward his target. His teeth clenched with his elongated canines overlapping the normal ones; his knuckles cracked from the curling and uncurling of his hands; his birth marks seem to have deepened more than they were before, and finally his eyes were still a murderous red.

They were now only a few feet away and Kakuzu couldn't move one bit. The sheer force behind that single punch rendered him useless; this kid possessed more power than anyone could imagine.

'This is it…' thought Kakuzu neutrally. Naruto's coated hand or in better terms 'claw' rose above his head and in one motion it quickly came down, with no means to stop. The hit was enough to create a small crater in the ground, but when Naruto looked down; his target was nowhere to be found. The chakra coating his body began to dissipate and his animalistic features returned to normal. Cerulean blue eyes gazed at the crater a while longer before his body turned and he ran toward Hima-chan and his fallen brother.

With Hima-chan…

Fear…that was the only thing the violette could feel because there before her lay Tatsu. He was face down and a large pool of blood that had formed underneath him. The spear that had impaled him was no longer existing thanks to the defeat Naruto had brought upon the originator but that was not enough for reassurance.

Hima-chan dropped to her knees and turned her lover around on his back. Tears immediately began falling from her eyes; the wounds on his body were beyond severe. Two gaping holes were present on his torso; one on his chest in which she already knew where it came from but the one in the middle of his abdomen was unknown. She immediately put her hand over the wound on his chest, it was too close to his heart and that took priority over the other one. It slowly began to close but not at the rate it should be in order to save his life. She tried healing the wound on his stomach but yet again, it was not closing at the required rate. A new feeling enveloped her being, and it was one of helplessness. She was helpless, never had she felt that as much as she does now.

"Koibito…please… wake up." The violette softly shook her lover but no response came from him. His skin was pale and his breathing was very shallow; blood was dripping down the sides of his mouth with no intent of stopping. "This isn't funny…please…wake up…don't leave me." Hope began slipping from her grasp; again no response came from him and all she could do was hold his head in her lap.

"N-Nii-chan?" Hima-chan shot her head up and came face to face with a smaller blonde with tears in his eyes as well.

'He…he can't be…' Naruto's thought in disbelief. He quickly ran over to his brother and skidded to his knees.

"**He's still alive Naru-kun, but just barely. If he doesn't get proper treatment quickly he will…." **Kyuubi left the sentence hanging, already knowing that Naruto understood what she meant.

'…Konoha isn't far, it's only a few miles out…we can make it if we hurr-'

"**It'll be too late, as I said his life is on a very short thread." **The red-haired woman said sadly.

'Is there anywhere clos-'

"Naruto….Hima-chan." Came a very faint voice.

Both people shot there gazes down at the dying blonde, he had opened his eyes which were glazed .

" Tatsu-kun don't talk, y-you need to save your energy." The violette explained with Naruto nodding in agreement.

Tatsu, in response, grabbed on to both of their arms.

"Hold on." He said in a still faint voice. If you were there at that exact moment you would have seen a white flash, with the three people gone.

End of chapter 8…

Sorry for such a short chapter, college is turning out to pretty hard and I'm trying my best to make time for the story. I hope you enjoyed the story so far and more chapters will be up soon.

"You're right, college is tough!"

But…how do you know, you're not in college.

"But I am in your mind, and you've been using it a lot lately, especially for English and criminal justice."

I'm surprised you know how to say 'criminal justice.'

"I'm thirteen you know."

….I'm still surprised.

"And I'm surprised at how mean you are."

I'm not, I'm just picking on you…Anyway stay tune for the next chapter, I hope to have it in in about a week or a week in a half. Till next time people!


	10. Confessions

Hey everybody, here's another chapter to 'Savior' and for the record, I appreciate all you for reading my story. I'm sorry for the long waits and what not but like I said before, college has been keeping me busy. Now please, enjoy the new chapter.

"Kotov-chan does not own Naruto or any of its characters."

That's it?

"Yea, I disclaimed it for you."

But no, "It took you long enough!" or "Finally!"

"No, I'm thirteen ya' know."

Right…This might turn out to be bad later on.

Chapter 9: Confessions

'Tatsu-kun…' Hima-chan watched her lover as he lay on a hospital bed with bandages rapped from his lower stomach to his neck. His breathing was uneven, but there was nothing she could really do about it. The severity of the wounds was too great and he wasted the last of his energy using the Hiraishin, which transported them directly outside of Konoha's main gates. The nurses at the hospital had stated that the likelihood of him waking up anytime soon was very low and also that the most the medics could do was stabilize him.

Tears fell down the violette's face; he saved her from death even though he was already horribly wounded. 'He sacrifices so much for me…' she lowered head as more tears came down, "Please Tatsu-kun, wake up…"

Naruto lay on his bed with tears in his eyes; he's never seen his Nii-chan in such a condition. There was blood littered all over his body…_his_ blood and he looked…dead.

The blonde shut his eyes, trying to erase the picture from his mind. The thought only brought him pain…pain of losing his Nii-chan. He tried to be optimistic just like his old self, but the reality was clear in his mind…his brother's life was hanging on a thread.

"**Naru-kun…"** Kyuubi called out his name softly.

"…" He remained silent.

"**He's going to be ok." **Reassurance was clear in her voice, but it didn't have an effect on him.

Naruto rose from his bed and walked out of his bedroom toward his front door. The nurses wouldn't let him stay to see his brother because of his status within the village. He was going to see his brother…and no ninja, nurse, or villager was going to stop him.

'…Naruto.' Sakura lay in her bed with tears at the brim of her eyes. It's been four years since Naruto's departure and the time has not made the pain go away. He ran away because of all the wrong she and the other kids have done to him…all the wrong _she_ has done to him. How could she let herself stoop so low as to become something she hated so much? How could she ruin something that was so vibrant in her life? How could she break Naruto?

The blonde was somebody that she needed in her life, but she knew he wasn't coming back and she needed to forget about him, to forget about the pain, and focus on her pursuit to happiness.

Tomorrow was another day at the academy and she needed to earn Sasuke's attention.

Naruto scaled up the walls of the hospital toward the window of his brother's room; it was midnight, and most if not all the residents of Konoha should be in for the night…including the hospital employees.

With the window only a few feet away he took one final step to launch himself onto the windows ledge. He carefully lifted the window, which was surprisingly unlocked, and stepped inside too find his Nii-chan still unmoving in the bed with Hima-chan resting in a chair right beside him. Her head was beside Tatsu's leg with her arms being used as her pillow.

Naruto walked to the edge of the bed and carefully sat down. He took one quick glance over at his only sibling to see that his chest was still rising and falling. 'At least…at least he's still breathing…he's still alive.' He shifted his gaze toward the violette and a small smile appeared on his face, 'And so is she.'

The younger blonde rose from the bed and walked over to the sleeping form of Hima-chan, intending on waking her up. He lightly tapped her on the shoulder, which seemed to have done the trick considering that her eyes slowly opened.

"N-Naruto?" she asked through hazy eyes.

"The one and only." He answered quietly in a semi-happy violette glanced over at the unconscious form of Tatsu before sliding her hand under his and squeezing it, 'please…come back to us soon koibito.' As if the tall blonde heard her, his hand tightened around hers causing her to gasp in surprise. Soon after, a smile gripped her face before she let go and stood up, "We'll come visit him tomorrow Naruto."

"That's if they'll let me…" the blonde's tone became angry but then settled to being one of sadness.

"Don't say that, we'll just have to make sure they don't say no to you."

"Unless you can explain to them that I'm not a demon bo-…" he stopped in mid-sentence due to a grin forming on his face. "Henge?"

Hima-chan nodded her head, "Henge."

With that they both jumped out the window into the darkened streets of Konoha.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon of the leaf village, and Uzumaki Naruto was already up and leaving his old apartment. The place hasn't changed at all, give or take the demeaning words that were written on the walls.

Closing the door with a soft click, Naruto began his walk toward the Hokage's office. There needed to be an explanation for his four year absence considering the fact that he left without any warning. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation, 'I don't know how Ojii-san is going to react, for all I know he probably thinks I'm dead.'

"**You never know, it's possible that your brother told him before you all left." **Kyuubi stated.

Naruto inwardly chuckled, 'Knowing Nii-chan he probably didn't; when we first met he didn't tell me where I could find him; I had to search for him.'

"**Hmmm…that is true." **Kyuubi chuckled as well.

'That's why I have to prepare myself for a veeery long meeting.'

"**I don't think it'll be that bad."**

'I hope not.' The blonde had to end the conversation. He found himself already climbing up the stairs toward his Ojii-san's office. He reached the doors to the for-mentioned room only to find it cracked open slightly. He walked up to the door only to stop at the sound of a conversation being held; so he quietly listened.

"Hokage-sama, Tatsu-san's condition is stable but he is still unconscious. The med-nins report stated that he's in a coma like state." One unknown voice explained.

"I see…" this voice was obviously the Hokage's, Naruto could recognize it anywhere. "Keep a watchful eye on him and when he wakes up inform me as soon as possible."

"Hai." There was a 'poof' noise, indicating that the unknown person had exited the room.

"Come in Naruto, we have a lot to discuss."

A loud sigh was audible through the doors, which caused the old Kage to smile. Naruto walked into the office and at first sight the Hokage's face held slight surprise within it.

'The boy has grown a lot.' Thought the old man, it was specifically directed toward the blonde's height. He no longer was the smallest of the group, now he stood at a good 5 feet 7 inches.

"Hi Ojii-san!" Naruto said cheerfully as he ran up and hugged him.

The robe wearing man laughed while hugging back, "It's good to see you too, Naruto." After a few seconds he released himself from the blonde's grasp causing both to go back to their original positions with the Kage sitting down and Naruto standing a couple feet away from him.

Silence engulfed the room until one voice broke the ice, "So Naruto, how have you been?"

"I've been great Ojii-san!" Naruto forced a smile on his face. It was one he used to hide his pain from the world and almost everybody fell for it, but the Hokage wasn't a part of that 'everybody.'

"Naruto, don't hide behind that smile; I know what happened to Tatsu is affecting you greatly."

The blue-eyed teen's smile fell and his expression was one of sadness and hurt. "You always know how I feel huh Ojii-san?" He proceeded to look at him straight in the eye, "I feel…I feel like I can't do anything for him, I mean he's my Nii-chan…and he's done a lot for me in the past four years." He averted his gaze toward his feet, "We've made a lot of memories together and he's the only real family I have. I should have taken the hit instead of him; if I did he wouldn't be in the condition that he's in right now."

"And if you took the hit _you_ would have been in that bed, you know your Nii-chan wouldn't want that. He would sacrifice his life before he would let anything happen to you."

"But-"

"Naruto, you're his otouto he's not going to blame you for something he chose to do, so please, don't blame yourself for the condition he's in now. He's proud of you and he will continue to be no matter what you do."

The blonde thought for a second, in which afterwards a smile formed on his face, "You really think so?"

"I know so." The Kage smiled back. "Now, I need you to explain what happened to him and whom was it that both of you faced."

Nodding his head Naruto began to describe how two men came into his and Tatsu's (he's keeping the existence of Hima-chan a secret) camp asking him to come with them. He then began to describe their attire and he specifically emphasized the cloaks that they were wearing and the red cloud design etched into them. Finally, he ended with descriptions of the battle from beginning to end while leaving out specific parts (such as Hima-chan being the intended target of the fabricated lightning spear).

"….he grabbed onto my arm and the next thing I knew we were in front of Konoha's main gates." Naruto finished, taking a deep breath.

'It's just as I feared, the Akatsuki are finally making their move.' The Hokage stood from his desk and turned his back to look out of the office's windows. "Thank you Naruto...now since you're back you're going to be designated to attend the academy so you can achieve the rank of Genin. You'll start tomorrow seeing as how classes already started, as for now take the rest of the day off."

"Hai, Ojii-san." On that note Naruto turned around and began to walk toward and out of the office door when the Kage's voice caught his ears.

"Welcome back."

"Arigato, Ojii-san." The blonde responded and disappeared out of the office.

Hima-chan slowly opened her eyes due to the sunlight shining on them. Sleeping on Naruto's couch wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but at least it was something. She slowly rose out of said furniture while pulling the covers (given to her by the younger blonde) off of her. She looked down to see that she was dressed in nothing but a long black T-shirt which was stored in Tatsu's storage scroll. 'Naruto was more than embarrassed when I took off my clothes to put this on.' She laughed softly at the memory from last night.

_Flashback…_

_As soon as they left the hospital that night Naruto had suggested heading back to his old apartment, considering the fact that it was very close. The violette had agreed and they both headed to the desired location. Upon arrival they both began unpacking their belongings that they brought for the trip and had received from various places during it. Finally, both suggested on going to bed since it was past midnight. Directly after they agreed Hima-chan had already proceeded to take her clothes off and Naruto had noticed when she was only in her panties. He caught eye of her breasts and nearly tripped over his own feet as he spun around to give her privacy, all the while a blush was present on his face. The violette giggled before she finally unsealed the long black T and covered herself. _

_End Flashback…_

'He's so innocent, it's cute.' She got up from the couch and walked to the bathroom to prepare herself for the day and the events that lie ahead.

'Four years and this village hasn't changed one bit.' Naruto smiled as he walked down a street that led back to his apartment.

It was true; the village of Konoha hadn't really changed. Sure there were a few new installments but they weren't that noticeable. He turned the corner onto another street and he found himself right at the staircase that led up to his living space.

As he came up the steps with his front door in sight, it opened with Hima-chan walking out of it.

"Hima-chan?" Naruto had a confused look on his face, 'Where's she going?'

"This is good! I was just about to go look for you!" she said happily.

"Wha? Why?"

"Remember what I said last night? We're going to make sure they let you in to see Tatsu-kun."

"Oh right, the henge!"

The violette nodded her head, "Well…go ahead."

With a nod, Naruto complied, "Henge no Jutsu!" and in a poof of smoke the blonde was no longer a blonde; he was now a black-haired boy, his birth marks were no longer present but his eyes were still the captivating blue that displayed every emotion he was feeling.

"Not bad Naruto, but we're going to have to change your clothes too." Hima-chan quickly ran back into the house to retrieve something and the blonde figured it was the for-mentioned clothes. Five minutes passed and the violette came back out with the different attire in her hand in which she tossed at the black-haired boy. Naruto caught the articles of clothing with ease and he individually held each piece in front of him for close observation. The first piece was a short sleeved tee-shirt that was the same shade of blue as his eyes; next was a pair of faded white shinobi pants that had a thick blue stripe running along the sides of both legs, causing it to have a correspondence with the shirt.

Naruto proceeded to look at Hima-chan with a confused expression, "Whose are these?"

The violette grinned, "They're your brothers." She simply stated

"Why would he keep clothes that don't fit him?"

"We were constantly on the move, so there really wasn't a way to get rid of them without leaving a trace."

"What about a Katon jutsu."

Hima-chan shook her head, "That would've have left too much information behind. Burn marks on certain surfaces and ashes of the clothes could have led any enemy ninja straight to us."

Naruto nodded in understanding before he headed inside to change his clothes. A few minutes later he came out in the clothes given to him, fully unrecognizable to the village's society.

"I'm ready to go when you are Hima-chan."

"Then let's go."

'I wonder where they're at right now.' Thought a bored Anko as she popped another stick of dango in her mouth. She had just returned from interrogating a low ranked nuke-nin and how boring that interrogation was. Anko had barely done anything to the guy and he already confessed the necessary information she needed. So now here she was eating lunch at Ichiraku Ramen, thinking about the two blondes that left four years ago. 'They're probably out training or something; those two are exactly alike when it comes to things like that.'

She briefly looked up only to find Ayame looking at that the ceiling while having her hands behind her back; it was obviously a thinking pose.

"Hey Ayame, what's on your mind?" Anko asked with interest.

The brunette staired at the ceiling for a while longer before she brought her gaze down to intercept Anko's. "How long have you had feelings for him?"

"What?"

"How long have you had feelings for Tatsu-kun?"

"What kind of question is that!" a blush was thoroughly visible on the purple-haired Jounin's face.

"An honest one." The brunette answered.

Anko seemed kind of reluctant to speak and it was understandable, considering the fact that when it came to most people trust was something that she couldn't possibly give. But then again, herself and the waitress had been friends for quite a while now and she didn't even know why she hesitated to answer. Ayame was somebody she trusted.

"I…I developed feelings for him a while ago."

"That's a very general answer…" the brunette said with a frown on her face.

Anko's blush deepened a bit and she averted her gaze toward anything that wasn't Ayame, "I don't know how to explain it…the feelings were there but I didn't know what they were; I think I realized them just before he faked his own death."

"You loved him for that long huh?"

"I-I never said I-"

"Anko, those feelings develop into something more as time passes." Ayame said with a small smile on her face.

Anko looked back up at the brunette with a curious expression, "How long have you loved him?"

It's was Ayame's turn to blush at the question, "I-I have for a while."

"That's a very general answer." The Tokubetsu Jounin mocked.

Ayame's blush deepened, "The feelings were they're ever since we were young…and I think I realized I loved him at the exact same time you did."

"He did something that made you realize you did, didn't he?"

The brunette slowly nodded her head, "He swore that he would always be there for me…"

_Transition Flashback…_

"…_no matter what!" Tatsu gave a broad smile and a thumbs up with his right hand which caused Ayame to giggle. After a couple seconds Tatsu's expression changed to one of uncertainty and a blush formed on his face. "And I don't know how to explain it but…I get this feeling when we're together. Tou-san told me it's a special feeling that's more than just liking someone and that I'll find out sooner or later."_

_A blush now formed on Ayame's face, she knew what feeling he was talking about, 'Okaa-san told me what it was.'_

_Tatsu continued to talk, "I think I understand it a little bit more…it's the feeling that Kaa-san and Tou-san share."_

_Before the blonde knew it Ayame had her arms tightly wrapped around his neck with her face buried in the same appendage. "I feel it too Tatsu-kun…it's love, that's what we both feel."_

_Tatsu wrapped his arms around her waist and responded, "Love huh? And you feel it too?" the brunette nodded into his neck, "Then I'll love you, no matter what." He said in a soft tone._

_Ayame separated her head from his neck and now they were staring into each other's eyes. Their faces inched closer until…_

_End Transition Flashback…_

"…he kissed me." The brunette said in a happy tone. The memory always put her in a good mood, always. "What about you? What did he do to make you realize?"

"It…actually was me who did something." She answered barely above a whisper.

Curiosity immediately etched itself on Ayame's face, "Really?"

Anko nodded, "We were walking together after a day of training; that's when I taunted him, saying…

Transition Flahback…

_"…I bet you can't catch me!" Anko yelled as she ran pass her companion and toward an open field, laughing all the while._

_"You can run as fast as you can Anko-chan, but you know I'll get you!" Tatsu yelled. Without a second thought the thirteen year-old blonde began his pursuit of his 'runaway' friend. _

_Anko, determined to prove the blonde wrong, poored chakra into her feet causing her speed to increase significantly. She looked over her shoulder to see if her pursuer was behind her, but there was no sign of him. "Ha! Looks like I'm too fast for you!" _

_"I don't think so."_

_She quickly shot her head forward only to see the blonde right in front of her with his arms open and his legs bent as if in a catching position. Anko quickly tried to slow herself down to a complete stop but she failed and as a consequence ended up being caught in the blonde's arms. Both of them were sent hurdling over a hill and began rolling down it with both of them still wrapped in each other's arms. Laughter rang out of their lungs until they finally came to a stop at the bottom of the slope._

_"Haha…I told you…hahaha…I would catch you!" Tatsu said in-between laughs, unaware of the compromising position both himself and Anko were in._

_"Hahaha…that wasn't fair…hahaha!" Anko responded through laughter as well, she too was unaware of the position they were in._

_Minutes passed and the laughter died down, causing the two to open their eyes. Immediately they both began to blush as Anko found herself on top of the blue-eyed boy with her face centimeters away from his own._

_End Transition Flashback_

"That's when I kissed him; he was probably surprised at first because he didn't kiss back for a couple of seconds." She smiled at the fond memory, "But once he did it was like I was on cloud nine."

Ayame giggled a little before she spoke, "I never thought I'd see this side of you, Anko."

A huge blush covered the purplette's face as she glared half-heartedly at the brunette, "S-Shut up!"

"I told you they wouldn't say no to you." Hima-chan chided happily.

"Yea but that's because they didn't recognize me." Naruto said as he chuckled in amusement.

"Ah, who cares about the details?" The violette asked before she opened the door to Tatsu's hospital room. "I'm surprised the whole village isn't trying to shove their way in here to see him."

"It probably has something to do with Ojii-san." The young blonde stated nonchalantly.

"That does make sense; he probably told the hospital employees to keep quiet." Hima-chan made her way to the side Tatsu's bed where he was still unconscious. She ran her hand through his soft blond hair while she observed his wounds.

"Hima-chan…you have extensive healing abilities, right?" Naruto asked in which the violette responded with a nod of her head, "Then why hasn't he healed yet? When you marked him didn't he gain some of your abilities?"

She smiled sadly before answering, "He should have, but his body is rejecting my chakra. It more than likely has something to do with the seal; there must have been some after effects."

"…so Nii-chan's body became accustom to the seals attributes?" she nodded in confirmation, "Is there any way to cancel out the effects?"

"There is…" Both Hima-chan and Naruto jumped at the voice and looked directly at Tatsu's unconscious form, the only thing was, he wasn't unconscious anymore. His eyes were opened halfway, only partially displaying his sapphire eyes which were a little hazy.

"Y-your'e awake!" Hima-chan immediately brought her lips down on his. Though he was in a weakened state, Tatsu forcibly lifted himself up in order to deepen the kiss. The tall blonde ended the exchange and shifted his gaze over toward Naruto, his eyes were covered by his hair and he remained silent.

"Those clothes fit you well, otouto." Tatsu said trying to break the ice.

The black-haired boy lifted his head while fighting tears back. He quickly dispelled the henge, causing his hair to revert back to its original blonde shade and a broad smile formed on his face. "Arigato, Nii-chan." He now became confused, "How are you awake already?"

"I began canceling out the effect of the seal last night, so as a result my body began to heal at a more rapid rate." Tatsu looked back up at Hima-chan, "My senses started coming back to me as well, so when you put your hand in mine I felt it and reacted."

The violette could only smile in response. Even though fear and helplessness gripped her heart during the time Tatsu was unconscious, hope still remained.

And hope can overcome any obstacle…

End of Chapter 9…

Yea, Yea cheezy. Anyway that's it for this chapter folks, stay tuned for the next one which should arrive in the next week. Before you exit the page or what not I'm going to criticize myself for a moment. I don't know why, but it feels like every time I type a chapter it sounds uninteresting and choppy if you know what I mean. So please leave comments for me so I know how you feel about it. Oh, and when you do comment try to be nice about it, I understand if you have many dislikes but I'd rather not read an insulting comment. Thanks, and hasta la vista!


	11. Opinion

Hello again, I'm back with a new chapter. I hope you're enjoying the story so far cause I enjoy typing it. Anyway enjoy.

"Kotov-chan does not own Naruto or any of the characters in the series."

Ok, you need to lighten up, just because you've grown up doesn't mean you need to act like you have a pole shoved up your ass.

"Hey, I don't!"

Yea you do! You don't even make some witty comment about my cursing nor do you hit me when I insult you.

"Come on Nii-chan, I'm thirte-"  
>Yea I know, and you've changed, big time…<p>

"You're just overreacting, I'm still Naruto."

….Whatever you say 'Naruto.'

Chapter 10: Opinion

'I guess it's time.' Thought a not-so-happy Naruto. He was dressed in his original attire, which consisted of the orange shirt, along with the black shinobi pants that held the corresponding orange stripe on each leg. Fingerless black gloves were fitted on his hands and his utility pouches were fitted on his legs. Finally, those lightweight shinobi sandals were fitted on his feet.

He reluctantly walked out of his apartment and closed the door with a soft click. Today was his first day at the academy and by no means, was he looking forward to it. Being back in Konoha was a happy feeling that made the blonde nostalgic, but its people were the reason for his misery. Four years away from the place should have made the pain go away, which it did, but only temporarily. As soon as he stepped foot within the village the pain came back with a vengeance, along with all the life shattering memories. What does going to the academy have to do with any of this? He would have to see the face of someone that pushed him over the edge and the awkwardness in knowing that was getting to him.

'It's more than likely that I'll see her…' Naruto let out a huge sigh and began walking toward his destination.

"**Will you be able to forgive her?" **Kyuubi asked out of nowhere.

'I don't know Kyu-chan, my heart wants to but my mind…'

"**Follow your heart Naru-kun, trust me…." **She said softly.

'I'll try, but I can't make any promises.' The blonde shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground as he continued to walk, 'I wonder how Nii-chan is holding up…'

"**If I were to guess, I'd say is injuries are fully healed by now."**

'You think the healing abilities work that fast?'

"**I know they do, you have the same abilities." **She stated happily.

'Then I guess that makes us even more alike.' Naruto thought with a small smile that followed. 'Kyu-chan, can I ask you something?'

"**Of course you can."**

'Is there any way, to release you from the seal?' he asked curiously.

"…**..There is…but I won't allow you to go through with it." **Her voice had a tone of seriousness and finality in it.

The blue-eyed teen was a little surprised at her answer, but he did not relent, 'How do I do it?' his voice held seriousness within it as well.

"**Naru-kun, I'm not telling you…"**

'Then I'll just have to find out.' And as he finished the thought he allowed himself to enter his mindscape, where he found himself no longer in a sewage like area but a long hallway covered by orange walls (Go figure). At the end of the hallway was a door with a paper seal on it, 'It's the same seal that was on the cage before I changed the scenery… that's kind of obvious.' Naruto began walking down the long hallway toward the door, 'I wonder what'll happen when I pull it off.' He sighed, 'Either I'll die right off the bat, or I'll find myself in excruciating pain and live…who knows.'

The blonde finally came face to face with the door and he put his hand on the knob before turning it lightly. With a soft click, the door opened to reveal a large area that resembled the grassy plains of the Hokage Monument (A/N: What can I say…I like the area). He began walking toward a cliff that was displayed in the far horizon of the environment and allowed the door behind him to close. As he edged closer and closer to the cliff, a standing figure came into existence. That same figure immediately disappeared, causing Naruto to stop dead in his tracks, "Where the hell did she go?" he asked himself aloud but quietly.

"I'm right here Naru-kun!" came a feminine voice from behind him. The red-haired beauty had taken the element of surprise and tackled the shocked teen to the ground.

The blonde found himself on the ground in a prone position with a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Kyu-chan was on top of him, snuggling her head into his shoulder blade.

"Kyu-chan was has gotten into you?" he asked as he turned around in the embrace. Once his eyes set on her face, he blinked a few times due to his mind going blank. Only a few seconds later did his thoughts return to him, "Kyu-chan! W-why do you look like your…your-"

"Thirteen?" she answered his question with a question.

"Y-Yea!"

"It's because of you silly."

"Wha? How did I-"

"Your body is absorbing my chakra, that's how!" her tone was happy sounding.

"But does that mean that you'll eventually be-"

"Nonexistent? No, your body may be absorbing my chakra but you're not absorbing me; once both of our chakra's become one I'll return to my normal state, but until then I'll be aging at the same rate as you." She explained.

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

"I know it doesn't, but that's how the Yondaime designed the seal."

"W-what?"

"He wanted you to have my power, to control it and use it to your advantages." She smiled fondly before continuing, "He knew I didn't mean to attack your village; he knew I was being controlled, but he saw no other way of stopping me. With a heavy heart he placed the burden on you, knowing that you'd be strong enough to carry the hatred of the village on your shoulders."

"He also knew that you would need a person to confide in, someone who could help you through the unjust in your life." Her face inched closer to the blonde's, with her eyes becoming half open and hazy.

"And that 'someone' was you." He responded; his expression mirroring Kyu-chan's. "He was thinking about me the whole time and thanks to him, I met you." Before the gap between them could close, a loud ringing shook them out of there haze and Kyu-chan reluctantly got off of the blonde.

"Looks like class has started, I think that means you're late." She said softly with a slight red hue on her cheeks.

"Nah, I'll be fine; I'm a new student after all." And right before Kyuubi's eyes the teens body deteriorated while his voice left one final message throughout the atmosphere.

"I'll see you soon."

The surroundings of the grassy plains quickly vanished and were replaced by the walls and buildings of Konoha. Naruto's eyes made contact with the front entrance of the academy and at that moment, his mood dropped once again. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped inside the academy grounds before walking in the direction of his class.

'Today is going to be one hell of a day.'

"Alright, everybody settle down." Said a man at the front of the classroom, he had brown hair that he keeps in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar across the bridge of his nose which he has had since his youth. He had on the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals and flak jacket.

The class continued to chat and mess around, obviously signifying that they did not here the person, so with one big intake of air the man talked a little bit louder…err yelled. "EVERYONE SETTLE DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION!"

And the class did just that.

The man cleared his throat before he spoke again, "Ok, now before we begin we have a new student joining our class." As he said that anticipation was present within every student, except for one.

Sasuke Uchiha was mystery within himself; he was independent and kept to himself all the time. Due to his cold attitude, girls started to form a…group if you would that was intent on getting the affections of the prodigy. Later on that group evolved into a fanclub and they would be on his heels at all times.

His clothing consisted of a short-sleeved shirt with a raised collar and the Uchiha crest on the back and white arm warmers along with a pair of white shorts.

The Uchiha ignored the announcement and continued to stare into nothingness, waiting for class to start.

'A new student?' thought a pink-haired girl. She wore a red qipao dress with white circular designs, without sleeves, with a zipper and tight dark green short. 'Whoever this is is coming into the academy late.'

There was a sudden knock on the classroom door, which made everybody's attention shift toward said object. "Ah, that's probably him now." Iruka assumed and walked to the door to open it. His eyes quickly widened with who was standing in the doorway, 'There's no way…'

"Hey Iruka, long time no see." Came the happy voice of Tatsu Uzumaki.

"You're alive…" Iruka's voice was low, and a mixed amount of emotions could be deciphered through his tone.

The tall blonde put a hand on his shoulder, "I know this is all so sudden, but you needed to know…please, after your class is finished meet me at the monument; we have a lot to discuss." With his sentence finished Tatsu disappeared in a flash of white.

Iruka was frozen in place, the sudden shock of seeing his 'dead' friend had rendered him speechless and that feeling almost increased tenfold when another blonde walked in the door, but this one was shorter.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, long time no see."

Only after a few minutes did the brown-haired man's shock reside, and a single coherent name spewed from his mouth, "N-Naruto…?"

Said teen elicited a small smile while nodding his head, "I'm the new student that has been assigned to your class…uhh..so do I need to introduce myself or can I just take a seat."

All the students in the classroom focused on what was happening in the doorway, the only problem was that the Iruka's back was blocking their view of the new student.

"You…you need to introduce yourself first." The instructor finally said before allowing the blonde entrance into the classroom.

Heaving a big sigh, Naruto reluctantly entered the classroom and as predicted, loud gasps echoed off the walls of the spacey room followed by light whispers. 'Yep…today is going to be one hell of a day.'

He made his way to the front of the classroom with Iruka right beside him, "Ok everybody, this is our knew student…would you please introduce yourself."

With a nod the blonde spoke, "Hi everybody, my name is-"

'Naruto…' thought a now, very saddened and shocked Sakura. She thought he had run away due to her foolishness…and people who run away don't return, right? All though these feelings were overflowing, there was one emotion that started to worm its way to the forefront of her mind. Happiness, he had returned and maybe, just maybe he would be willing to forgive her, if she did not screw up. Unknown to her, tear drops were falling from her eyes.

With his introduction finished Naruto quietly surveyed the audience, until his eyes set on an open seat that was located toward the end of the classroom. 'At least no one will notice me being here, I mean I like the attention and all but this is honestly too much.' All eyes were on him as he walked to his determined seat and only when Iruka cleared his throat did the heat die down.

Inside the Hokage's office…

"We need to reinstate you as a shinobi, Tatsu."

"Wha? I'm not a part of this village anymore, according to the bingo books I'm a missing nin."

"I'm sure the council will relieve you of such charges."

"Even so…I can't waste my time going on missions when I have to take care of Naruto."

"Your brother isn't a little boy anymore Tatsu, he's grown significantly, thanks to your teachings. You know he can take care of himself, he's been doing that for all his life so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind you being away for a while."

"Jii-san…That's why I don't want to be reinstated as of right now, I want him to know that he can rely on other people and not have to do everything himself." Tatsu's face held vigorous amounts of seriousness.

The old Kage sighed at the blonde's stubbornness, "Why don't you ask him how he feels about the situation; I'll give you till tomorrow for an answer and if you still refuse then I will comply."

Tatsu stood silent for second, staring intently into the Hokage's eyes before he finally nodded, "Ok…but one more thing."

"What is it?" The Kage asked curiously.

"If I do accept, what will my position be?"

"I'll explain that when you give me your answer tomorrow."

Again he nodded and walked out of the office with his hands shoved in his pockets.

Tatsu's mind was blank as he exited the office and made his way down onto the busy streets of the village. What was he to do? Jii-san was right but the blonde's heart did not want to believe it. The only way he was going to make his choice was by hearing what Naruto had to say.

At the Academy…

Bored was the only word to describe what Naruto was feeling right now. He had knowledge of mostly everything Iruka was teaching give or take the backgrounds of the four Kage's. Speaking of which, the blonde had an interest in the Yondaime Hokage; it was almost as if he could relate to him in some sort of way, yet he did not delve too far into that thought.

"All right class that'll be all for today, see you tomorrow."

'Finally!' Naruto thought with a relieved breath, 'Now I need to go find Nii-chan for training.' The blonde stood up from his desk and proceeded to walk to the exit, only to be stopped by a voice that he hadn't heard in four years.

"Naruto?" said blonde turned around to come face to face with a pinkette. "Can…we talk?" she asked nervously.

"Sorry Sakura, but I have things I need to do." Was his only response before he turned around again and continued to walk to the exit.

"Wait!" Sakura quickly lunged forward and grabbed the teen's wrist. "Please…" she pleaded.

"Sorry." He said again as he gently retracted his hand from her grasp and disappeared out of the classroom.

Sakura remained frozen in place. There was pain in his voice, pain of being betrayed and fooled. Because of her mistakes he had changed…and those three years of beating on an already battered soul was starting to show. She needed to fix this.

And she will not give up until she has…

In the marketplace, 2 hours later…

'Four years and this place still has not changed one bit…' thought a calm Tatsu. 'I think it's a good thing though.'

The tall blonde took a few more steps before stopping at his destination. He quickly pushed aside the curtains and took a seat at the establishments counter.

'I might as well stop and grab a bite to eat.' His stomach rumbled directly after the thought, 'Hehe I haven't eaten all day.'

Ayame currently had her back turned to the blonde, a showing sign that she did not hear him come in. She was humming a tune to herself as she was cooking ready-to-go noodles for any customer that came in.

"Catchy tune." The blonde said aloud causing the brunette to elicit a loud 'eep' before she spun around on her heels; only to have her eyes widen and her heart skip a beat.

"Tatsu-kun!" She was already around the counter and in his arms, kissing him passionately. A couple minutes passed and both lovers separated for air.

"That was a great 'welcome home' present." Tatsu said with a sheepish smile.

Ayame blushed at the remark, "You're welcome." A satisfied smile accompanied the red hue.

"How has everything been?"

"It's been great! Tou-san is back to his old self and business has been constant."

"I'm glad."

"Did you guys just get back?" Ayame asked curiously.

Tatsu shook his head, "No, we came back yesterday."

"How come you two didn't stop by?"

"We needed to talk to the Hokage about our trip."

Ayame's face became neutral as she caught on to what he was trying to say, "You didn't tell him you left did you?"

"Erm…no?"

The brunette shook her head and heaved a sigh, "Baka…"

Tatsu quickly shot his hands up in defense "What? I swear it wasn't my fault, we were in a hurry."

She ignored his excuse and kissed him one more time before making her way back around the counter. "What would you like?"

'Thank Kami…' he sighed, "One mismo, please."

"Coming right up." the brunette replied in a happy voice.

"Hey Nii-chan, Ayame-neechan."

"Naruto!" Once again Ayame flew around the counter to engulf the younger blonde in an embrace. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Nee-chan!" he said as he hugged the brunette back.

"How was your trip?" she asked.

"It was great; we traveled to every nation learning new jutsu's and now I've become stronger than ever!"

Ayame smiled at the response, "That's good." She ended the hug and once again made her way back around the counter to prepare the dishes, "What will you have Naruto?"

"One mismo, please."

"Coming right up." She said happily.

As the brunette got to cooking both brothers sat in silence. Only after a couple minutes did Tatsu finally speak, "So otouto, how was your fist day at the academy?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know how to describe it…it was like I was meeting everybody for the first time again…"

Tatsu only nodded his head, "I understand, you've been gone for four years."

Once again a moment of silence ensued before the older blonde broke it for a second time, "Naruto…I have a question for you."

"What is it, Nii-chan?" the smaller blonde's eyes locked onto his brother's in a curious and anticipating matter.

"Jii-san…wants me to be reinstated as a Konoha shinobi…and I was wondering how you felt about that."

Both of Naruto's brows shot up in surprise; he didn't expect a question such as that. Even so, he answered with no hesitation, "That's great Nii-chan!" he said with a bright smile.

"So you're alright with it?"

The blue-eyed teen nodded his head in confirmation, "Of course I am!"

"Are you sure you'll be good without me?" Tatsu asked with a teasing smile.

"Oh come on Nii-chan I'm thirteen; I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself."

"Hahaha, ok, ok." The tall blonde patted him on the head.

"Do you know what position it'll be?"

Tatsu shook his head, "No, Jii-san said he'd tell me tomorrow."

"Two mismo ramens." Ayame announced while she walked up to the counter and placed both bowls of the steamy noodles in front of them.

"Thanks Ayame-chan/neechan." Came the simultaneous response, and as their lives depended on it, both brothers dug into their bowl with no mercy.

2 hours later…

Tatsu softly opened the door to the apartment Hima-chan bought for them before the trip. "Hima-chan!" he yelled to see if she was home.

No answer came.

"I wonder where she is…" The blonde put his hand on his chin to think of the possibilities. When none came to mind he just shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to walk to their bedroom.

'I need to talk to her about what Jii-san said as well. I know she won't agree to it as easily as Naruto did.'

He had now made it to the door of the bedroom and in one swift but calm motion, he opened it. A smile instantly formed on his face. 'I should have guessed.'

Hima-chan lay curled up on the bed with the covers off, causing her to shiver a little due to the cold temperature of the room. Tatsu stripped down to his black boxers, leaving his normal attire scattered about on the floor. He carefully crawled in the bed and brought his body close to hers. As a reaction, the sleeping violette pressed her body into the front of his frame in which the blonde instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist. Hima-chan let out a light sigh and a small smile formed on her peaceful face.

'I guess we'll have the talk tomorrow.' Tatsu concluded. He laid there; awake in silence, only after a few minutes did sleep finally take him…

"Argh…damn sunlight…" grumbled an annoyed Tatsu. He lazily put his pillow over his face in an attempt to block the rays out. It worked but he couldn't fall back asleep; once he is up, he's up for good. The blonde reluctantly sat up on the bed and wiped his eyes clean of any sleep before fully opening them. He looked over his shoulder to see if his lover was still asleep and to his surprise the spot was vacant.

'She woke up early.' He concluded and proceeded to get up and get ready.

A few minutes passed and Tatsu opened the bathroom door. He had just got out of the shower and the only thing he had on was a towel, which was wrapped around his waist. His hair was damp along with his tan skin, and the marking was openly displayed for all to see.

As soon as he took one step out of the door a distinct and delicious smell hit his nose…

'Ramen…' he quickly bolted out of the bedroom and into the kitchen and immediately stopped in his tracks. The ramen was being cooked…by Hima-chan who was dressed in only a long black t-shirt that barely passed her her waist.

"H-Hima-chan?"

The violette didn't turn around, instead she spoke, "It'll be done in a minute, Koibito."

"B-but how do you know how to-"

"Make ramen? Well, I like the stuff, so I learned how to make it. I even made my own original seasoning for it." She explained in a happy tone.

"O-ok…I'll be at the table." With that said the blonde walked out of the kitchen and to a table that was set just right outside of the precious room.

A couple minutes passed and the violette came walking out of the kitchen with two bowls in hand. She laid eyes on her lover and froze in place. He was naked; his hair was damp, which in Hima-chan's mind was sexy, his lean and cut body only intensified that factor, her mark was showcased on his torso, and finally only a towel was covering his…stuff.

A smirk formed on her face as she licked her lips.

"Uh…Hima-chan?" The blonde knew that look all too well.

She just kept quiet, silently moving toward the table and setting the bowls on said object. She then walked around the table and sat down straight on Tatsu's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. The more interesting part about the position they were in was that her womanhood was rubbing up against his manhood.

"Kanojo, I know what you want to do but I have to ask you-" Tatsu was interrupted by his lover, who hungrily brought her lips down on his own. Whatever he had to say flew out of the window in an instant and he began kissing back with as much force. The blonde placed his hands under her thighs and lifted both himself and the violette up, causing his towel to drop to the floor. He began carrying her to the room while she wrapped her legs around his waist, leaving the ramen to sit there, long forgotten.

At the academy…

"Ok class, today we'll be doing some taijutsu sparring. You'll display your knowledge of taijutsu as well as your respected style." Iruka explained. This was an event that was common and happened a few times in the same month.

The students were stationed at an open arena that was still on academy grounds. Anxiety was in the air as no one knew who was going to be picked. Naruto just stood there with a care free expression; taijutsu was his strong suit. 'I just have to remember not to go overboard.'

"**You probably won't have to take it that far, Naru-kun."** Came the calm voice of Kyuubi.

'But still, I have to be careful.'

"Naruto Uzumaki, please step into the arena." Commanded Iruka.

Naruto complied and walked past the students in front of him with his hands in his pockets. He stepped onto the arena and looked at the spot where his opponent would be.

Iruka stood silent for a second before calling on the next student, "Will Sasuke Uchiha, please step in the arena."

End of Chapter

There you have it; I'm sorry it took me so long. I don't know if any of you predicted the pairing for the sparring match…actually my guess is that you did and I'm also guessing you know what most of next chapter is going to consist of. Anyway, stay tuned for next chapter; once again it might be another week till I can post it up, so please be patient and I thank you for taking your time to read 'Savior.'


	12. Rank

''Yo everybody, here's another chapter. I don't know if I'm being too generous or not but I want to thank those of you that have been pointing out my mistakes throughout the story. You're help is appreciated.

"Kotov-chan does not own Naruto or any of the characters in the series."

Ok, you're attitude needs to change…right now.

"What? Why?"

You're not being you, it's….weird.

"But I am being me."

Oh are you ya shrimp.

"…"  
>Shrimp…<p>

"…."

Shrimp, shrimp, shrimp, shrimp, shr-

WHAM!

"I'm not a shrimp!"

Oww!...haha there's the Naruto I know.

Chapter 11: Rank

'I should've guessed.' Thought Naruto. For some reason, he knew that Iruka would put him up against the rookie of the year. It was more than likely to see what skill he had acquired throughout his four year absence. Before he went away, his taijustu consisted mostly of offensive based attacks, which left him wide open for counterattacks. His brother taught him how to use his weakness, which was defense, to his advantage. He became analytical in reading his opponents attacks and almost always found an opening which allowed him to perform a successful counterattack. He would go on the offensive when needed and when he did, he made sure to leave no openings of his own. Now that's not to say that his style is perfect, it's far from so, but it's effective.

Naruto took his hands out of his pockets and let them fall to his sides. "I'm ready when you are." He allowed a smile to surface on his face.

"Hn." Was all the Uchiha said before he began to dash toward his opponent. Naruto readied himself for the oncoming attack and ducked under a punch aimed for his face. The Uchiha quickly followed up with a punch to the gut which the blonde caught. Using the momentum of the attack, he threw the prodigy over his shoulder. Sasuke landed on his feet and retaliated with a low sweep kick to the legs. Naruto jumped over the strike and followed up with a kick to the chest, causing the Uchiha to quickly throw up his arms to block. On impact the prodigy was sent skidding back a few feet; when he lowered his guard down the blonde was already in his face and punched him straight in the gut, causing him to double over in pain. Ignoring the feeling to the best of his ability, Sasuke quickly threw a punch of his own which hit Naruto's left shoulder. He threw another punch and at the same time so did Naruto. Both made direct contact with each other's face, the only thing was that Sasuke was sent flying backwards until he skidded on the ground to a complete stop, a few yards away from the still standing blonde.

There were loud gasps in the crowd, which were soon after accompanied by whispers. Iruka himself was shocked, but he didn't let it show; he planned on having a talk with whisker-marked teen after class.

Naruto's head lurched back to the standard position of looking forward and he laid his eyes on his prone opponent. Slowly but surely Sasuke picked himself up and once again began charging forward; anger was ever so present in his eyes. Naruto began dodging his angered onslaught and in doing so he found an opening. He swiftly ducked under a punch and followed with a sweep kick causing the Uchiha to fall on his back. Before the prodigy knew it the blonde was on top of him with a readied punch.

"Ok, that's enough!" yelled Iruka.

Naruto got off of his downed opponent and took a few steps back. The audience of students again began to whisper while looking at the blue-eyed teen. Naruto knew what most of them were saying and almost each pre-genin's words held disbelief.

Sasuke got up and stared into the blonde's blue eyes with anger. It only lasted a split second until both parties retreated back into the crowd of students.

Naruto received different looks as he walked backed to the same position he was in before the spar began. Looks of anger, disbelief, and awe were all present, but he ignored them. Now he had to wait until class was over, hopefully then he could escape the overwhelming attention of his class.

With Tatsu and Hima-chan…

"So what did you want to talk about, Koibito?" Hima-chan asked while drawing circles on her lover's chest with her pointer finger.

Tatsu tensed a bit, "…It involves me becoming a Konoha shinobi again."

The violette proceeded to stare at him with a blank expression.

"I-I wanted to know how you feel about it." The blonde's voice was uneasy and he became tenser when she did not answer. "I don't know what the position is yet but-"

"I won't let you go unless we're together."

"….You mean, you want to be a kunoichi?" Hima-chan nodded her head with a steel resolve. "But I don't even know where Jii-san is going to place me. Hell I might end up being a guard at the main gate for all I know."

"I won't let you go without me…"

"What?" surprise found its way onto Tatsu's face.

"I want to be by your side as a kunoichi of this village."

The blonde's eyes softened and a small smile formed on his face, "Kanojo, if you're worried about me, don't be."

"I won't let you convince me not to Koibito." She lowered her head to hide the incoming tears.

Tatsu placed his hand under his lover's chin and lifted her head so she was staring directly into his eyes, "Ok, come with me to Jii-san's office, we'll see what he has to say…plus I think it's about time I introduced you to everybody."

At the Academy, after class…

"Naruto!" Iruka called out to the blue-eyed teen. Said person stopped walking and turned around with a confused expression on his face. "Want to go grab some ramen, my treat."

Naruto, though caught off guard by the request, nodded, "Sounds good Iruka-sensei!"

The two walked out of the classroom and began their short journey to Ichiraku's. Iruka quickly looked over at the blonde walking beside him. "How have you been Naruto."

"I've been great!" the blonde said as he looked up at his 'sensei' and smiled more out of force than true happiness.

And Iruka caught on to it right away.

'Something's wrong…'

"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to pry the true answer out of him.

"You bet."

Iruka sighed inwardly, "Ok, if you say so."

They walked the rest of the way in complete silence. Upon arriving at the stand Iruka opened the flaps to allow both himself and Naruto to enter and take a seat.

"Hey Naruto and…Iruka! I haven't seen you in a while." Ayame greeted and exclaimed.

Iruka gave a crooked smile while rubbing the back of his head, "Well…I've been busy at the academy believe or not."

The female brunette nodded her head, "So I'm guessing Naruto has joined your class, ne?" she said as she averted her gaze toward the teen.

He nodded his head with a foxy smile in place, "Yep! But it's weird…seeing everybody again." He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "I guess they don't remember me."

"You were gone for a while, Naruto." The chunin sensei exclaimed.

"I know, but it's kind of hard to believe since I pulled pranks that were legendary." To prove his point, Naruto through his arms up in the air for emphasis.

Both Iruka and Ayame laughed at the blonde's display. They were glad to know that some of the old Naruto was still willing to show from time to time.

"Alright, what will you two have?" Ayame asked while calming down from the laughter.

"Miso for me!"

"I'll have chicken."

"Coming right up." With that the female brunette turned around and began cooking.

"So Naruto…what all did your brother teach you? You displayed a lot of skill in the sparring match today."

"He taught me a lot of things, like chakra control and jutsu's."

'That's specific…' Iruka thought sarcastically. "What kind of jutsu's did he teach you?"

Naruto gave a broad smile, "You'll just have to wait and see Iruka-sensei."

Iruka let out a small sigh but gave a small smile afterwards, "I'm looking forward to it."

As the conversation ended, two orders of ramen were placed on the table in front of them and on first sight Naruto already broke his chopsticks and began digging in. The brown-haired chunnin left his ramen as is and decided to look over at the blonde, 'Naruto…' Iruka new how to catch on to those fake smiles and false expressions; they were a sign of the blonde trying to mask his pain, pain he knew all too well.

Meanwhile…

"What?"

"You're going to be reinstated as an Anbu black ops captain." Sarutobi said in a serious voice.

"Why?"

"You have all the required skills and experience to be one, Tatsu."

"Aren't there enough in that field?" Tatsu furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. All in all, he was upset. He wasn't suspecting such a high position, especially when he's just being reinstated. Another thing was the concern of Naruto and his lovers; he wanted to be there for them.

"Jii-san, Black Ops captain…" Tatsu turned to Hima-chan in uncertainty, "It requires me to be away a lot and for long periods of time."

"That's why I'm going to be alongside you, ne?"

A frown formed on Tatsu's face, "Hima-chan, it depends if you're assigned to the same missions as me and such missions are extremely dangerous…I don't want to risk-"

The violette put both of her hands on his face and stared directly into his sapphire orbs, which stopped him in mid-sentence, "Koibito, I can take care of myself," she said in a soft tone.

"What about Naruto?"

A wide grin formed on her face, "I had a talk with Ayame."

The blondes expression became blank, "….You talked with Ayame-chan?"

She nodded, "She's really nice."

"Did you tell her about our relationship?"

Again she nodded, "It was akward at first…"

Flashback…

_Hima-chan pushed aside the drapes that led into the well-talked about ramen stand and her eyes set on the person she was looking for. She'd rather confront her now than wait and face the consequences._

_Ayame was adjusting something on a high shelf near the counter. She caught sight of the violette that walked in and stopped to greet and take her order._

"_Hello, can I take your order."_

"_Actually, I wanted to talk to you Ayame."_

_Said girl looked surprised, "How do you know my name?" she didn't mean to sound rude, but how exactly did a stranger know her name?_

"_Tatsu-kun told me who you were and I wanted to meet you."_

'_Tatsu-kun huh?' she slowly glared at her suspiciously, "Who are you?" _

"_I'm Himari." She said with a small smile._

"…_How do you know Tatsu-kun?"the brunette's glare became more intense._

"_We met thirteen years ago; he was on his way to Amegakure when he saw me in trouble."_

'_T-thirteen years…' her eyes began to slightly water, 'Are they in a-'_

"_I love him Ayame…" Hima-chan's eyes shifted away from her saddened gaze, "At first, I hated him, I thought he was the most annoying and loud human on the planet. Even though I treated him poorly, he was always there for me and brushed off any insults I threw at him. Before I knew it, I fell in love with him." She finally found the courage to look her in the eye again, "I know you love him too, and I wanted to confront you about the situation we're in."_

"…_First Anko and now you too, huh?" _

"_Anko?"_

_Ayame nodded, "Both me and her grew up with him; she loves him just as much as I do. Although she displays her affection for him in the most abnormal ways, she lets him know that her heart is in his hands."_

"_Ah, so we have more of a problem than I expected."_

_Ayame elicited a small laugh, "If you try to confront her and tell her what you told me, she'll more than likely try to tear you to pieces."_

"_She could try." The violette laughed as well, "But I can be a convincing person."_

"_It takes a lot for her to be convinced." Ayame wiped the threatening tears from her eyes._

_Both of them laughed at the same time, lightening up the mood, "So…are me and you ok with the situation."_

_Ayame stared at her blankly for a minute before answering, "I can't say I like it, but me and Anko both agreed that we would share him…"_

"_So you want me to talk to this Anko first?" Himari asked curiously._

"_Yes, she loves Tatsu-kun too and she needs to know."_

_The violette nodded her head, "I understand…can I have miso ramen please."_

"_What?" _

"_Can I have miso ramen please, you asked me for my order a moment ago."Hima-chan smiled broadly with her eyes closed._

"_Oh! Yes, I'll have it for you right away." She smiled back while blushing lightly._

Flashback end…

"After she brought me my order we talked; turns out we have a lot in common." Hima-chan smiled.

Tatsu was visibly sweating, 'Ayame…wants her to talk to Anko…?"

Hima-chan saw this and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"A-Anko isn't g-going to take this well…"

"I figured that; Ayame told me how she is and I'm prepared to face the worst." Again she smiled.

The blue-eyed man sighed lightly, "Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you."

The Hokage cleared his through, causing both parties to look at him, "Are you two done with you conversation?"

"Hehe sorry Jii-san but I have one more question for her."

The old man nodded and allowed him to continue. Tatsu and Hima-chan turned back toward each other so that they were face to face once more, "What did you and Ayame-chan talk about when it came to Naruto?" the blonde asked.

"She told me that she and Anko will watch over him when we're away, they apparently see him almost every time of the day."

Tatsu let out a small laugh, "That's true, he goes to Ichiraku's when he has a chance and Anko is always near-by or talking to him." He let out a small sigh and switched his attention to the Hokage, "Ok Jii-san…I accept the position."

"That's good Tatsu," the old Kage looked at Hima-chan, "Himari, putting you under Tatsu's authority will be a longer process. We need to know your strengths and weaknesses in combat as well as your ability to work in a cell." The violette could only nod in response. Once again the Hokage shifted his attention to Tatsu, "You'll start your position in a week's time, until then I need you to do me a favor."

"Ok Jii-san."

"Suna wants us to become allies and has asked for me to attend a meeting there. It begins tomorrow and I want you to come as well.

"Why?"

"I think Orochimaru is going to make a move."

At hearing that particular name, Tatsu's eyes darkened and his fists clenched, "Do you know what he's planning?" he asked in a dark voice.

"I'm not sure, but I received information that a few of his Nins were scouting the village out." The Hokage sighed before continuing, "Go get some rest and be ready by tonight, we have quite a trip ahead of us."

"Hai." Tatsu turned to Hima-chan, "Let's go find Naruto, we need to tell him the news."

The violette nodded her head and walked out of the door with Tatsu close behind.

Back at Ichiraku's…

"Thanks Iruka-sensei." Naruto slouched in the chair/stool and let out a huff while patting his belly.

"No problem Naruto, I'm glad that we were able to catch up."

"Me too." The blonde slowly slid off the stool, "I got to get home, I'll see you tomorrow!" he said and with a quick wave he walked out of the stand.

"He's changed a lot." Ayame stated, trying to break the short silence.

"He has…It's like he's forcing himself to be happy."

"That _is_ what he's doing; I can't put my finger on it but I believe the trip affected him more than what it should have."

Iruka could only nod at the statement.

Naruto's Apartment…

'Why does Sakura want to talk to me? I thought she wanted me out of the way…" Naruto stretched his limbs out on his bed before resting his arms behind his head.

"**Maybe she wants to apologize to you."** Kyuubi suggested.

'I want to believe that, but…it's just hard."

"**You never know."**

Naruto let out a loud sigh, 'You're right Kyu-chan…I'll talk to her tomorrow.'

"**That's my Naru-kun." **

_Knock, Knock, Knock…_

The blue-eyed teen slowly sat up from the bed and began walking to the door, 'Wonder who it is.'

Finally making it to the door the blonde opened it and found himself staring at another blonde whom was accompanied by a violette, "Hey Nii-chan, Hima-chan."

"Hey otouto/Hi Naruto!" they said simotaneously.

Naruto opened the door fully and stepped inside, allowing both guests to step in.

"So what's up Nii-chan?"

"Well…" The taller blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I accepted Jii-san's offer."

"That's great! What positon did you get!"

"Anbu Black Ops Captain."

At that, the smaller blonde's expression went blank. His Nii-chan had talked to him about Anbu and the dangers of the field. He knew this meant that his brother would be away…a lot. Not only that but Black Ops is a whole other field of Anbu. Only the most skilled shinobi and kunoichi are placed in the division, meaning that the missions were extremely dangerous. Knowing this, all sorts of worries filled Naruto's mind and the memory of what happened to his Nii-chan a few days ago flooded his head.

"Listen otouto, I'll be alright and I'll come see you as often as I can, plus Hima-chan will be here for you when I'm gone."

"I know Nii-chan…I'm just going to have to get use to you not being around."

Tatsu smiled at his brother's act and put his hand on his head, "You're strong Naruto, even more so now than before we left and I know you'll become stronger as time passes." He began ruffling his hair, "Now, I'm leaving tonight and I don't know when I'll get back, so stay safe otouto."

"Same goes for you." Naruto said with a smile.

Tatsu retracted his hand and let it fall to his side. He looked at both of his precious people and gave a small smile, "See you both later, I love you." And with that he disappeared in a flash.

Himari tilted her gaze toward the remaining blonde, "Well Naruto, starting tomorrow we'll continue your training."

"Ok…Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Just meet me at Ichiraku's and we'll go from there."

"OK, Hima-chan."

A few hours later…

Anko couldn't believe just how boring her day was again. A few wanted nin were caught earlier in the day and it took only a few minutes of her torture before they told her the information she needed. "Missing Nin these days are pathetic; they're not even worth my time." She said to herself as she sat down on a chair just a few feet away from an interrogation room.

Her thoughts quickly shifted over to Naruto and Tatsu, 'It's been four years already and they still haven't returned yet,' the purple-haired Kunoichi heaved a sigh and propped her head on her hand while she was hunched over with her elbow on her knee. 'I swear, if they both don't come back soon I'll hunt them down myself!'

"Seems like someone is irritated." Came a new voice.

Anko quickly shot her gaze to the origin only to find Tatsu standing in a doorway parallel to her position. She was already out of her seat and tackled him to the ground, "Damn right I'm irritated; what took you so long!"

"Hehe, we had a lot of things we had to do."

"Yea right!"

"It's the tru-"

He was cut off by a pair of lips being hungrily brought down upon his. The exchange was hot, intense, and needy and only after a few minutes did they finally separate.

"I thought you were going to be an idiot again and not come back for a decade."

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because you've already done that once!"

"…I know, but it was a vital thing I had to do."

"Sure, but you do know you're still a missing nin."

Tatsu allowed a sly smirk to cross his features, "So what does that mean? What are you gonna torture me?"

Instantly, Anko grabbed his crotch causing him to let out a surprised gasp.

"You know me too well…I just hope you'll last long." As soon as she finished her sentence Tatsu firmly grasped her breasts, causing her to elicit a moan.

"Don't worry about me Anko-chan." He said with the smirk forming on his face again, "Just make sure _you're _able to hold on."

Once again, both began kissing with as much passion and need as before.

End Chapter 11…

We-he-ell, looks like we know what's going down between those two no? Anyway, here you go folks. Again, sorry for the long wait. Stay tuned for the next chapter which I hope to publish soon. Like always, I thank those of you who are reading my story and are continuing to do so. Now Next chapter is going to be sticking with Naruto I still need to show you what else he has learned from his four year training trip.

Till next time, this KotovSyndrome saying peace.


	13. Proposition

Hey guys, one brief comment before you continue reading. The reason why I was more focused on Tatsu than Naruto is because I needed to break him down as a character. Now that he's established and set, the focus will be on Naruto and his development. With that said, please continue with this new chapter.

Chapter 12: Proposition

Naruto sat in the back of the classroom again with his head resting in-between his arms. Iruka was talking about the basics of Ninjutsu, and how boring that was. In the middle of that lecture, he had also stated that the Genin exams were coming up in a couple weeks. That announcement caused the blonde's head to shoot up in surprise; he knew that he came in late into the academy, but not this late.

"Ok class, that's it for now; see you tomorrow." Iruka said.

All students got up from their respected seats and began exiting the classroom. Naruto heaved a sigh; he had to talk to Sakura to see what she had to say. Just as he was about to get up from his seat, he spotted the pink-haired girl walking in his direction. 'That's convenient…" he thought.

"Sakura." Naruto greeted in a normal, calm tone.

"Naruto." Her tone was determined and her gaze focused on his form. "We need to talk, and I won't take no for an answer this time."

"From what I remember, you wanted me out of the way; so why talk to me now?" That was a little mean, but he needed to know if what she was about to say was true.

The determination she had seemed to have died down, and guilt took its place. "I…I wanted to apologize for all the things I've done to you. I thought if I started to fit in, then maybe they would stop bullying me; I didn't think about what would happen to you. I sunk so low, and the worst apart about it is that I hurt you. Please, I'm sorry for what I did...and I want things to be back to the way they were."

Naruto looked at her with a guarded gaze. He knew he had already forgiven her, it was just forgetting what happened that blocked his resolve. Hearing this apology made those memories flush away slowly and he hesitantly stood up from his seat. Sakura had her head down, totally unaware of Naruto's current position. She suddenly felt warmth engulf her being and she found her face nuzzled in the blonde's chest.

"It's ok Sakura, I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago, it's just...what you said that day made something inside me snap, and all the sadness and anger I held in for so long finally hit me. It made me forget all the good times we had together, and those memories are what kept me happy." Sakura snuggled further into his chest and let out a soft, content sigh. "I want us to be what we were before."

The pinkette brought her head out of his chest and looked up into his eyes. "Me too." She gave him a bright smile. Naruto gave one in return and detached himself from her; Out of the blue a large rumble came from his stomach. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and gave a slight blush, "Hehe…I'm really hungry."

Sakura giggled, "I can see that."

"Have you eaten anything yet?" she shook her head, "Do you wanna get something to eat? I'll pay for it."

"Ok." She said happily.

"Right! To Ichiraku's!" Naruto instantly grabbed her hand and began leading her to the desired location.

At the Infamous Ramen Stand...

Sakura watched the bowls pile up as Naruto was basically inhaling his ramen. 'How can he eat so much of this stuff?' She barely had eaten half of her first bowl and he already had six empty ones stacked on top of each other. "Are you ok Sakura?" She snapped out of thoughts and found Naruto looking at her with a quizzical expression. "Yea, I was just wondering how you could eat so much of this." Her finger was pointed at her own bowl.

"It's really good, and it usually fills me up in no time."

"But don't you get tired of it."

He shook his head, "To be honest, I probably can never get tired of it, it's just too good."

Sakura shook her head and laughed; she had forgotten just how much fun it was to be around him. He was always able to make her laugh, even if she was in the sourest of moods.

"All done Sakura?" Naruto asked with a smile.

She looked down at her half eaten bowl then back at him, "Yea."

"Anything else you want to do?" He asked as he put money out on the counter to pay for the food. She only nodded her head and grabbed the blonde by his hand, dragging him to where she had in mind.

The wind was flowing through the green grass and few trees that layered the hill atop the Hokage Monument. Blue painted the skies overhead and the sun settled itself in plain view, shining its rays on the two figures sitting near the edge of the cliff.

"It's been a while since I was up here. I forgot how relaxing it was." Naruto said, offsetting the silence in the air.

Sakura gave him a questioning look, "You didn't come up here when you came back?"

"I did, but it was for training. I haven't been up here to relax."

Silence resumed its course through the area before it was disrupted again, this time by Sakura, "Naruto."

"Yea, Sakura?"

"Before you left, I saw you with a women." Naruto looked at her in confusion. "She had beautiful violette hair."

"Oh, you mean Hima-chan…I wasn't with her though. I think she was talking to my Nii-chan."

This time, Sakura looked at him in confusion; "You have a brother?" she was clearly surprised.

He nodded, "I just found out myself a couple days before and I was just as surprised as you are right now. I didn't believe him at first when he told me we were related…but after a few minutes he finally convinced me."

"How did he convince you?"

Naruto tensed at the question and Sakura caught eye of it, "He showed me that we share a…mark."

"Oh, like a birthmark?"

The blonde tensed again but nodded to confirm her question. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, there was more to it than that and she needed to find out what. She decided not to follow through with her objective and left it to be talked about later. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy the moment that they were both relishing in.

"How have you been for the past four years?"

Sakura's gaze turned into one of sadness, but she stayed silent.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"…When you left, I couldn't stop blaming myself for what I've done. Almost every day I would come here to this exact spot hoping that you would be here. I wanted all of it to be just a dream, but as time went on I knew you were probably never going to come back." The pinkette swallowed a bit before continuing, "So I tried to forget what happened and move on."

Naruto's face went blank at that, 'She tried…to forget about me?'

"**Hold on Naru-kun, just listen." **Kyuubi said.

Sakura averted her attention to the village below, "That's when Ino showed me who Sasuke-kun was and I started to like him. I was hoping that maybe if I thought about him, then I could stop feeling the guilt of what I did to you." She looked back at Naruto,"But it didn't work; you were always on my mind and every little thing reminded me of you." Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, "Then, out of nowhere, you show up in class. When I saw you, I couldn't believe it. You returned, and I was so happy….but I didn't know how to confront you."

"Sakura, don't cry." The blonde said almost pleadingly and as if his body moved on its own, he wrapped the girl up in a hug. "I'm here now and I don't plan on leaving for a while." She nodded into his chest and wiped the tears from her eyes. Naruto released himself from the embrace and stood up abruptly, "Sakura, I need you to get away from me."

She was confused and shocked, "Why?"

"Please, trust me." His tone held no room for argument.

Sakura complied and got up, only to walk a few yards down the monuments path. When she thought she was at a safe enough distance, she turned around and horror struck her face.

Fire engulfed the spot where Naruto once stood…

'Whew, that was a close one.' Thought Naruto whilst in mid-air. 'If this couldn't be the worst time.'

Another ball of fire came rushing toward the blonde and he expertly twisted his body to evade the attack. Naruto softly, landed on the ground and readied himself for another attack. As expected one did come, but this time it was a horde of shuriken. He swiftly pulled out a kunai and began deflecting the sharp tools, causing them to disperse in every direction. Deflecting one more, he jumped to his left and before he knew it a certain violette was in his face throwing a punch. Naruto deflected the attack with his forearm and followed up with a swift jab to the stomach, which the assailant caught. Himari used her free hand to throw another punch that hit the blonde's face, sending him flying backwards. To her immediate surprise, her victim disappeared in a puff of smoke and she found herself dodging a sweep kick that came from behind. She expertly jumped in the air and landed a few feet away from her opponent before throwing another wave of kunai. Again, Naruto jumped out of the way but this time to his right. Himari was already right beside him and she launched a kick aimed for his head. He crossed his forearms and brought them up to the targeted area in hopes to defend himself. The violette's kick was blocked but Naruto was sent skidding backwards until he ended up right next to Sakura.

"Naruto?"

"Don't worry; it's not what it looks like."

"But-"Sakura was cut off by Himari whom began attacking the blonde again.

Naruto found himself on the defense as he was ducking and dodging under swift kicks and lightning fast punches. After a few minutes of this pursued the blonde finally found a small opening, but an opening nonetheless; he pulled back a punch and sent it flying toward the violette's face. Her eyes widened and she instantly brought her arms up to her face, as contact was made Himari was sent skidding backwards. When she finally stopped, she let her arms fall to her sides and looked directly at her opponent. Naruto eased out of his stance and stared right back at her.

"Good job Naruto; you read my attacks perfectly." Himari said with a smile.

Naruto gave a smile back, "Arigato Hima-chan."

The violette shifted her gaze over to Sakura, who decided to silently listen and stare at the two. "And who would this be?"

"Oh! Right, Hima-chan this is Sakura; We've been friends since we were six," Naruto gestured Sakura to look at Hima-chan, "Sakura, this is Hima-chan; she was with me and my Nii-chan during our training trip."

"Hi." Both girls said simultaneously while giving a small wave to each other.

"Why did you attack Naruto?" the pinkette's voice held curiosity and a teeny bit of anger in it.

"It's a training exercise; you never know when an enemy ninja may attack you, so to prepare him for such things the exercise involves me attacking him without notice."

"And you had to attack him now!"

"I told him we would be training today; I just didn't tell him when."

Sakura let out an annoyed sigh and looked at Naruto, "Is it like this all the time?"

The blue-eyed teen sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Hehe, yea."

"Oi Naruto!" yelled Himari, "We still have to train some more."

"I know! Sorry Sakura but-"

"It's ok Naruto; I'll stay and watch." She smiled.

Naruto stared at her blankly for a second before answering, "Erm…ok." And with that said he turned around and walked over to the awaiting Hima-chan.

Nightfall…

"Rasengan!" Naruto thrust the chakra ball into a near-by tree, leaving only a pile of splinters and branches in its place.

'Wow…' that was the only thought that crossed through Sakura's mind. For the couple of hours, she watched as Naruto trained vigorously, straining his body to the limits. 'This is how he trains normally?'

Naruto put his hands on his knees and bent over slightly in an attempt to catch his breath. Sweat drizzled over his face and covered body, Kami how he really wanted to fall over and sleep.

"Alright Naruto, that's it for today." Hima-chan exclaimed.

Naruto elicited a few more 'pants' before finally responding, "Ok.." again he panted until he regained his breath, "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm probably going to head back home, I have a long day tomorrow." Himari replied.

"Does that mean there's no training tomorrow?"

"I don't know; maybe, maybe not."

Naruto let out an annoyed sigh, "Right…" he turned his gaze toward Sakura, "It's pretty late; would you like me to walk you home?"

The pinkette nodded with a smile and got up from her seated position.

"I'll see you two later!" Himari did a quick wave and shushined away.

"Let's get you home, Sakura."

...

Naruto and Sakura walked side by side in a comfortable silence. The blonde was looking straight ahead while the pinkette stole a quick glance of him, 'Something's different about him; he isn't the Naruto I remember, being loud and happy. What happened during his trip?"

"Is something wrong, Sakura?" asked Naruto curiously.

She snapped out of her thoughts and responded, "Uh no, no I'm fine, are you ok?"

"Yea…I'm ok, you just looked like you were thinking about something."

Sakura was hesitant to answer, "I…I was just wondering what happened during your trip."

"…I trained and visited new places; it was a new experience for me but I liked it." He smiled, but it wasn't a smile that openly displayed his emotions. No, this one was the guarded smile of a person hiding his true self. Too bad Sakura didn't catch the hint.

"Where exactly did you go?"

"We went to a lot places across the five great nations." Naruto looked up toward the sky as he put his hands behind his head, which was a habit that stuck with him, "First, we went to a small village that was on the border of Hi no Kuni. From there we went to Suna, then to Iwagakure. Basically we visited every great nation and a few villages in their territories. The only village we didn't go to was Amegakure."

"Why not?"

"I don't know exactly; Nii-chan said there weren't a lot of benefits in going there, so we decided to avoid it."

"Hmm…ok."

Naruto now looked forward and saw that they already arrived at their desired location, "Well Sakura, here you are."

She instantly gave him a hug and buried her head in his chest, "Thank you Naruto…and thank you for forgiving me."

The blonde laced his arms around her waist, "You're welcome."

Both didn't let go of each other after the brief exchange of words. Instead, they both tightened the embrace; For Sakura, it was reassurance that Naruto was here and not some figment of her imagination; For Naruto, it was reassurance that this Sakura wasn't the one that treated him like an infidel.

Finally, the two broke apart, "I'll see you tomorrow Sakura-chan." Naruto said softly before turning around and walking in the direction of his apartment.

….

"**I'm glad you two worked things out." **Kyuubi commented.

'Yea, me too." Naruto rounded the corner onto his street and walked straight past his apartment.

"**Umm…where are you going?"**

"You remember Mizuki, right?"

"**Yes, and I already know what you're up to."**

'He didn't really care for me when I was a child, but now he acts like we're family…he's planning something that involves me."

"**And you're going to spy on him to see exactly what he's planning." **

'Yep, and I think I have a pretty good idea of where he might be.'

Naruto rounded another corner and coincidentally spotted a rather tall figure, dressed in a long black cloak. The person's back was facing him, so the blonde was out of sight, out of mind. Almost instantly, Naruto jumped to the rooftops and began following the figure down the street.

'Let's see where this guy is going.'

The blonde followed the suspicious person to an area surrounded by old houses; a few lights were shining in them, showing that they were still occupied by some of the poorer villagers.

The figure stopped, positioning itself in the middle of the area, while Naruto watched it like a hawk scavenging for food. A few minutes passed and suddenly, a second figure appeared in the area; it was too dark to identify the newcomer, so any assumptions that it was Mizuki had to be put on hold.

The cloaked figure began speaking, "So I see you made it, is everything ready?"

"Yes, It'll be set it in motion the day of the Genin exam." The second figure answered.

"Good, as soon as the task is complete report to Base C. Once there you will receive your reward."

"Ok; it'll be done." That concluded the brief conversation and both figures vanished into the night.

'So, they plan on setting their plan in motion during the Genin exams. I still don't know if that other person was Mizuki, but I definitely need to watch myself when it comes to him."

"**You also should keep an eye out at the Genin exams; something suspicious is bound to pop up then."**

'Right.' Naruto turned himself around and was about to jump to another rooftop, but the suspicious cloaked figure that the blonde just saw was standing right in front of him.

"So I see you've been spying on me and my friend; he was right about you, your skills are most impressive and the fact that you were able to conceal your chakra so well makes you that more valuable." The person said.

"Who exactly are you?"

"Me? I'm a person that was sent to look for you."

"What about the other person."

"He's…a pawn if you will."

"Ok…then why are you looking for me?"

"I have a proposition for you." Naruto raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Come with me and receive power beyond your wildest dreams."

"…No, I belong in this-"

The man elicited a somewhat maniacal laugh, which interrupted the blonde, "In this village? Don't be foolish; the villagers see you as what's inside you and your "friends" are oblivious to your existence. So pray tell, what benefit do you get for staying in this place?"

"My Nii-san, Sakura-chan, Hima-chan, and Jii-san care about me. They see me and Kyu-chan for who we are not what we are!"

"That may be, but since your brother is an Anbu Captain, do you think he'll have any time for you? This Sakura girl has a crush on the Uchiha and now that she has cleared things up with you, all of her attention is going to be directed toward him. The violet-haired one only spends time training with you, other than that she does her own thing. And finally, your Hokage you rarely see, unless he requests for your presence."

Naruto was speechless; this couldn't be true. The blonde understood that his brother would be busy as he said so before, but he _would_ have time to spend with him, right? Sakura…would she let their renewed bond dwindle away because of Sasuke? Hima-chan does spend time with him, but is it just strictly for training? And….Jii-san…

"You're wrong! I won't go with you; this is my…home…" Naruto's voice became quiet toward the end of his sentence.

If the blue-eyed teen could see the cloaked figure's face; he would have saw an evil grin. "Soon enough Naruto Uzumaki, you won't be able to resist the urge for power and you'll willingly come to us." Before the blonde's sapphire eyes; the assailant faded into the shadows.

Naruto stood there frozen in place; the figure did what he intended to do and he left Naruto wondering…

'Is this really my home?'


	14. Lead

Chapter 13: Lead

'_What benefit do you get for staying in this place?'_

That simple, yet complex question rang through Naruto's mind over and over again as he lay in his bed.

"_That may be, but since your brother is an Anbu Captain, do you think he'll have any time for you? This Sakura girl has a crush on the Uchiha and now that she has cleared things up with you, all of her attention is going to be directed toward him. The violet-haired one only spends time training with you, other than that she does her own thing. And finally, your Hokage you rarely see, unless he requests for your presence."_

'Am I going to end up being alone again?'

"**You'll never be alone Naru-kun, everybody you know cares about you. Just because they're not around all the time doesn't mean they'll forget about you."**

'But….what if they do?'

"**They won't." **

'What if…what if you do?'

Against his will, Naruto was pulled into his mindscape and the scenery of his bedroom changed to that of the Hokage Monument. Right in front of him stood Kyu-chan with her arms crossed and a somewhat angry look on her face. The blonde idly stared into the girls eyes with a saddened and confused gaze; would she forget about him?

A mild slap echoed throughout the area and a light red hand print was marked on Naruto's face. His head was shifted to the side a bit and he angled it back to its original position, staring at the crimson-haired girl in shock.

"How could you even say that?" She was definitely angry and hurt. "You think, that I would forget you and abandon you? After everything we've done and strived for?"

Tears threatened to fall from the girls eyes and upon seeing this, Naruto instantly regretted asking his previous question. Both of them have been through so much together and he had the stupidity to doubt his savior? How foolish can he be?

"Kyu-chan I….I'm sorry. I just don't know what to think anymore." Naruto lowered his head, causing his eyes to be shadowed over by his messy blonde hair. "That guy…everything he said made sense."

"…He was trying to change you Naru-kun; convincing you that even though you may think things are ok, they're not. Your brother would never forget about you; he would rather die than to see you alone. Himari cares about you just as much, even you can tell. Sakura regretted everything she ever did to you to cause you pain and just because she has an infatuation with the Uchiha doesn't mean she'll abandon you and your Jii-san thinks of you as his own grandson." Kyuubi stated softly. She slowly walked forward and embraced her jailer by rapping her arms around his neck.

Naruto slowly returned the girls actions and placed his chin on her shoulder, "Thank you, Kyu-chan." That's all he could say; he believed her without any hesitation…but there was still a part of him that held doubt.

They released each other from the hug and the blonde plastered a not so happy smile on his face, one that was trying to hide his emotions. "I better get going before I'm late to class again. Kami knows Iruka-sensei will explode if I am."

Kyuubi giggled at the fact before settling into one last smile and fading from existence along with the scenery. Naruto opened his eyes and found himself lying on his bed already dressed, 'I should get going…' As soon as that thought crossed his mind, a knock came from his front door. "Hold on, I'm coming!" the blonde yelled. He walked to his front door and cautiously turned the handle, causing the door to open, revealing what seemed to be a happy violette.

"Hima-chan? What are you doing here?"

"I came by to take you to the apartment." She chirped.

Naruto had a confused expression plastered on his face, "Why?"

"I need to show you something that might interest you."

The blonde slowly nodded, "Ok…but if I'm late for class again, Iruka-sensei will have my head."

Himari smiled brightly, "You don't need to worry about that; I already had a talk with him and he excused you for the day."

Naruto's face displayed surprise for a mere second before he mirrored the violette's smile, "Ok then! Lead the way!"

….

"You know Naruto, your brother wanted to know if you would come and stay with us here; you don't have to live on your own."

"I know; he asked me a while ago but I rejected the offer. I lived on my own for most of my life so I'm used to it and I think living with others would be too uncomfortable, ya know?"

'Tatsu-kun was right; he grew up too fast.'

"So what did you want to show me Hima-chan?"

"Right, I'll be right back!" Himari quickly walked into the nearby bedroom, leaving Naruto alone in the living room. Only a few seconds passed before the violette came walking out with a piece of blank paper grappled in her left hand. "Now Naruto, hold your hand out for me." The teen complied and held out his right hand, "Now we know that you have an affinity for wind, but we need to find out if you have any others. With that said, you already know what's in my hand, right?"

The blonde nodded, "It's chakra paper." Himari didn't even give a response to confirm that he was right. Instead, she dropped the paper in his outstretched hand and right before both of their eyes it cut clean in half while being burned by small electrical impulses.

Both Himari and Naruto looked up at each other before blinking a few times. Silence between them continued for a minute until the violette finally spoke, "You also have an affinity to lightning," she smiled, "Just like your brother."

"He has a wind affinity too?"

"Yes, except his primary affinity was lightning."

"How did he find out he had a wind affinity?"

"It was discovered by accident, just like how yours was."

Naruto chuckled a bit while rubbing the back of his head, "I should've expected that; we're too much alike."

"That's a good thing." Himari said simply.

Naruto elicited a large, brief smile, "I know." His smile morphed into a small one, "Is there anything else you wanna do? Thanks to you I don't have class for the whole day."

"We need to go to the interrogation division of the Anbu headquarters."

"Erm..why?"

"I have to talk with somebody there; someone you're familiar with."

'Interrogation division…someone I'm familiar with…the only person I know within that division is Anko-chan…Anko!' The blonde began to sweat a little, "Umm…why do you need to talk with Anko?"

"Let's just say I need to settle something with her."

Upon hearing that he began to sweat more, "You know w-whatever you h-have to settle with her is not going to go well. She's n-not one for sitting down and having a friendly talk."

"Haha don't worry; I'm prepared for whatever she has to throw at me."

…..

"WHAAAT!"

"Anko, I know that you're more than likely angry but it's the truth."

"First Ayame and now you! Hell, I don't even know you, so tell me why I would share him with you!"

"Because I love him just as much as you do and I would do anything to protect him. That's why I came to you; I already spoke with Ayame and she would happily have me share him with you two, just as long as you're alright with it."

"No!"

"But-"

"I said no!"

Himari was saddened by the enraged Jounin's answer, but she understood. She tried to play nice, but without Anko's approval there was no way to settle this dilemma peacefully. It seems like it will be war between herself and the other two.

"Umm…Anko-chan?"

Said person looked down at a visibly sweating Naruto, "What!" she yelled.

Naruto flinched a little bit but kept his posture strong and unmoving, "Don't you think you're being unreasonable?"

"How do _you_ figure! You're not even old enough to understand what's going on!"

"Well…Hima-chan loves my brother whole-heartedly, and to be stripped of that privilege is painful. She came to you in hopes of gaining your approval to love somebody that you love as well; Rarely do people do that. What would happen if you weren't obligated to show your affections toward someone that you loved?"

Anko's rage knowingly died down a bit as her tense posture calmed. Since when was the not-so-little goofball a love doctor? The Tobetsu Jounin didn't really know how to answer that question considering the fact that she's never been in a situation involving such a concern. She turned her gaze to Himari whose eyes were averted away from her. The violette's expression displayed one of sadness and grief; would she feel the same way?

Naruto continued to speak, "Anko-chan, I know it feels unfair to share someone, but my Nii-chan doesn't put either of you on a scale; in his eyes, you're all equal and I know for a fact that you both hold his whole heart in your hands, not just a fraction of it."

Both of the women's eyes widened as the blonde finished what he had to say. The way Naruto spoke blew their minds; it was as if he had been in a relationship for a very long time. Anko once again looked at Himari with her rage all but gone. 'Maybe sharing with one more person wouldn't be bad.' Anko let a small sigh escape her lips and she rubbed the back of her neck slowly, "Alright alright, I guess sharing with _one_ more person wouldn't be that bad…but that's it! No more!"

A smile that could split her face appeared on Himari and she swiftly embraced Anko in a tight hug, "Thank you!"

"Ok, but put me down…I…can't breathe!"

"Oh! Hehe..sorry." The violette put the wheezing Anko down and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

….

"Since when were you a love doctor Naruto-kun?"

Naruot laughed a bit before answering, "I don't know, but since when did you start adding suffixes to the end of my name?"

"What do you mean? I've been doing that since I met you."

"…No you haven't!"

This time Himari laughed, "I know; but you've made me really happy!"

The blonde looked up at the violette walking next to him and blinked a few times, "I'm glad I did." He smiled.

For the next few minutes both of them walked in a comfortable silence before a loud growl rumbled through the air. Himari blushed and once again rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Looks like I'm hungry, wanna get some ramen?"

"Heck yea!"

A few moments later, the both of them found themselves sitting on stools in Ichiraku Ramen awaiting for their orders to be served.

"Have you heard anything from Nii-chan?"

Himari sadly shook her head, "He probably just arrived in Suna and when it comes to political deals; Shinobi rarely have time to communicate with people back here."

"Oh…well he'll find some time to write to us."

"You're probably right."

"Two orders of mismo ramen!" Ayame said happily as she placed the bowls in front of the two.

"Thanks Ayame/Ayame-chan!" both customers said simultaneously.

Naruto already began digging in to his food as he was practically inhaling the steamy noodles. Only a few minutes passed and he was already full with fifteen bowls stacked high for all to see. Himari had only finished her 2 bowls and she gawked at the blonde in amazement, 'I'll never get used to that.' She thought.

"Is something wrong Hima-chan?" asked Naruto curiously do to her current expression.

"Huh…uh no, no, I was just wondering how you do that."

"Do what?"

"How do you eat ramen that fast?"

"What do you mean? I was really hungry."

"But…never mind…" She turned her gaze forward and a moment of silence ensued. "Hey Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something…that concerns the day we were attacked."

Naruto's expression darkened; those bastards deserve to pay for what they did to his Nii-chan, one way or another. "What is it?" he said darkly.

"The people that attacked us were part of an organization called the Akatsuki; Me and Tatsu-kun ran into a member a few years before we came here."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit, "What happened?"

"We had to fight him; he wielded the Sharingan which labeled him as an Uchiha. The battle ended in a draw with both him and Tatsu-kun severly injured, because of this he retreated while Tatsu-kun was left lying on the ground with only my chakra to heal him."

"How bad were Nii-chan's injuries?"

Himari shivered due to the question being asked, "If it weren't for me, he would have died." The blonde's expression went blank; if it weren't for Hima-chan, his brother would've been dead. "During the battle, we were able to learn what their goal was." The violette took a deep breath and then continued, "They're hunting Jinchuuriki and capturing them in order to extract the tailed beasts from their bodies."

Again Naruto eyes widened, "So that makes me…"

"A target and in danger…This is why we took you on that training trip; Tatsu-kun didn't want to risk your safety as well as the villages."

"But wouldn't that have made me an easier target?"

"No, though we were out of the village, our trail was cold do to being constantly on the move. If we stayed in the village, they would have torn it apart until they found you."

"Do they know that we're back in the village?"

"They shouldn't; we made sure to keep them running in circles for a while and if they finally do realize that you're back in the village we'll be prepared."

"Ah, so that's why we skipped Amegakure on our travels, I'm guessing that they're headquarters is situated within the village." Himari nodded her head in confirmation. Naruto sat quietly after that, clearly thinking, 'That day when Nii-chan came back with all those wounds, that means he must have…' For the third time, his eyes widened, "Hima-chan…The day Nii-chan left…you don't think he went to Amegakure, do you?"

Himari became tense; the memory of that day was definitely one she didn't like to think about. But that would explain all those wounds he had prior to the one he received by saving her. "T-That would explain the other injuries on his body…That baka! Why would he go there alone?"

"I don't know…but it was probably for a good reason." 'It had to be.' The blonde thought.

Ayame cut in "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but what exactly happened to Tatsu-kun?"

Regretfully, Himari explained, in detail, what happened that day. By the end of the explanation, Ayame had her hand covering her agape mouth. "Why would that baka go out and do that!"

"I don't know, but when he gets back he has a lot of explaining to do; anyway we'll catch you later Ayame, me and Naruto have to go."

"Where are you going?"

"We still have to train; isn't that right Naruto?"

The blonde heaved a big sigh, "Yea…"

Naruto quickly packed his bag with kunai and the essentials needed to survive out in the wild. As he was walking back from his training session with Himari, he caught eye of Mizuki running toward the entrance of the Konoha with a packed bag on his back. That was definitely an indicator that he was going somewhere far and Naruto needed to find out where exactly he was going. He strung his backpack on his back and quietly but swiftly flew out of his front door toward the entrance of the village. Thanks to his enhanced abilities, tracking the supposed suspect should be no problem. The thing he really had to worry about was traps and possibly facing the Chunnin alone or with a few enemies siding with him.

A very familiar voice interrupted his train of thought, "Erm otouto, where are you going?"

Naruto came to an abrupt stop and shot his head up only to find his Nii-chan right in front of him with his arms folded. "I uhh..what are you doing back so early? It's only been a couple days!"

"Oh..this isn't really me; it's a Kage Bunshin. I'm here to report to the council on how things are going with the meeting in Suna. Now, tell me where you're going; with the bag on your back it looks like you don't plan on returning for a few days."

"Well…You remember Mizuki don't you?"

Tatsu put his hand on his chin, "Yea, the oddly suspicious looking one with whitish-blue hair."

Naruto nodded, "After training with Hima-chan, I spotted him running toward the entrance with a packed bag. I've been suspicious of him ever since the first day at the academy. He's been nice to me…way too nice; when I was younger he always treated me like dirt. That bothered me and it was very suspicious. So, now that I've spotted him leaving Konoha, it's only confirmed my suspicions." The blonde teen's expression changed to one of determination, "He's up to something and I'm going to find out what it is."

Tatsu stared at his brother intently before running his hand through his blonde hair, "Ok…but take another me with you, you never know when you'll need back up." As soon as he said that another Tatsu poofed into existence. "I want you to stick with Naruto and listen to what he has to say. When what's done is done dispel yourself." The newly fabricated clone gave a nod and turned toward Naruto.

"Lead the way, otouto."

With a bright smile Naruto turned around and dashed off down the beaten path that lead out of Konoha, with the clone of his brother right beside him.

End Chapter 13

That's it for this chapter. Stayed tuned for the next one and please review, it'll help me in the long run. Thank you to those who did review because all of you have helped me with the mistakes I made. Till next time :D.

Oh and I don't own Naruto and it's characters.


	15. Takedown

Chapter 14: Takedown

"He's moving fast; his chakra signature is faint." Naruto said while landing on a branch and jumping to the next one.

"Well we'll have to match his pace, but we need to stay behind him at a good distance." The cloned Tatsu jumped to a near-by branch and stayed close behind his brother. "Keep your eyes open, we may be running right into a trap."

"I know Nii-chan…hold on a second." Naruto abruptly stopped on a branch and jumped down to the ground with Tatsu following suit. "Do you sense that?"

"Yea, seems like a mass organization of signatures…it must be a camp."

Naruto nodded "Mizuki's signature is still on the move, which means that he must have went through the camp."

"That also means those are enemies. The camp must be a checkpoint to ensure that he makes it to wherever he has to go." Tatsu looked toward his brother, "I'll distract them; continue your pursuit and be watchful for any more checkpoints or traps."

"You know we can go around them."

"I know, but once you do catch Mizuki, they're eventually going to find out and come after us. It's better to cripple them now than to face them later."

"Ok; be careful Nii-chan."

"Always am." With that the older brother ran forward toward the camp at full speed.

Naruto could hear the battle commence at the checkpoint as lightning struck down in the area and multiple cries rang out through the air. He continued his pursuit of Mizuki, doubling his speed in order to catch up to him. The traitor's signature became noticeably stronger, as well as a couple more that were unknown. 'He's still moving, so either the other two signatures represent a trap or it's another checkpoint.' The blonde slowed his pace and stopped only a few yards away from the questionable signatures. Two voices could be heard…

"Make sure if you catch sight of the Jinchuuriki to alert Orochimaru-sama."

"Hai…What about that Konoha Chunin?"

"He'll be taken care of as soon as we get what we want. Now leave."

"Hai."

"…..You can come out Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, but as soon as that feeling came it dissipated and he revealed himself to the stranger.

"It seems like we meet again."

'It's the hooded man from before.' "Why are you here?"

The man released a dark chuckle, "I'm here to simply talk. I knew you would be chasing Mizuki, in fact it was planned that you would. The fool that you're chasing was nothing but bait."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "What do you want with me?"

"I want you to reconsider my offer, or do you need me to explain to you again about the faults of your village and the people you consider close."

"You were wrong in what you said…they would never ignore me or be so caught up in their duties to forget about me."

"Believe what you want now, but soon enough you'll begin to question your beliefs." The man let out another evil chuckle.

The blonde's eyes remained narrowed, "Where is Mizuki going?"

"Exactly where you're expecting him to go."

'So he's going to see this Orochimaru character…I need to catch up to him.' Naruto readied himself by pouring chakra into his feet. "I would love to stay and talk more, but I need to catch Mizuki." Before the hooded man could react Naruto disappeared, causing a huge gust of wind to strike the area.

'His power continues to grow. Using a nature affinity to increase his speed is something only a few know how to do and to learn something at such a young age…he'll be known throughout the five nations before too long.' The hooded man suddenly disappeared in a twirl of flames.

'What the hell?' thought Mizuki as he was almost knocked off his feet by a powerful gust of wind. Regaining his focus he chose to ignore the powerful sensation and looked forward once again to see where he was going. To his surprise a blonde haired teen was in his way and he had to come to stop. "Get the hell out of my way brat!"

Naruto chose to laugh at the insult/threat, "I knew something was up with you being all nice to me and what not. It's actually good to know that you're still the same piece of crap that treated me poorly."

"I said move!" Mizuki yelled once again.

"Why are you in such a hurry '_sensei_?' the blonde spat, "Does this Orochimaru person have no patience?"

"You won't understand, now move or else!"

"Or else what? You're a traitor Mizuki; I know a little bit about this Orochimaru character. He's a Sannin and a traitor of Konoha. You think that after he has what he wants from you he won't kill you? If that's the case then you're more of an idiot than I thought." Naruto got into a fighting stance, "I'll take you down and drag your sorry ass back to Konoha."

"I'll like to see you try demon boy." Mizuki quickly threw kunai at the blonde in which the teen dodged and threw a pair of his own. Mizuki pulled a kunai from his leg pouch and deflected the projectiles. He then swiftly charged forward before sliding on the ground with a one foot outstretched. Naruto quickly jumped over his opponent and quickly turned around to face him. Mizuki was already up and running through a few hand signs.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!" A huge fireball shot out of Mizuki's mouth and proceeded to grow in size as it flew through the air toward Naruto. Naruto ran through a few hand signs himself, "Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Wall Technique.)!" A wall to match the size of the grand fireball arose from the ground and as the heated attack hit the wall it turned into steam and evaporated. Naruto once again flipped through multiple hand signs, "Fuuton: Sattou Dangan (Wind Release: Bullet Rush)!" A large orb of compressed wind formed in the blonde's right hand and he raised said appendage in front of him and toward Mizuki. Suddenly the ball shot forward and dispersed into smaller arrow-like projectiles. Mizuki displayed shock before barely dodging the incredibly fast projectiles. "Fuuton: Ashikubi no Pusshu (Ankle Push)." Naruto said in a neutral tone. In the middle of the Chunnin's dodge a small but noticeable force of wind caught his footing, which caused him to trip in mid-air. Naruto took the given advantage and sprang forward in the direction perpendicular to Mizuki's. Right as the two were about to collide Naruto brought his knee up which hit Mizuki's chin, causing him to abruptly and painfully stop in an upright position. Naruto reared his fist back and slammed it forward into the traitors face, sending him flying backwards and into a tree that he bounced off of, only to land on the ground face first, unconscious."

Naruto sighed before walking over to the unconscious form, "Looks like it's over." He kneeled down to check the pack that was on Mizuki's back. When he opened it, a few scrolls fell out along with a bunch documents involving Konoha's ranking system and who were within those ranks, "So you were planning to sell Konoha out to the enemy; talk about treason of the first degree."

Loud clapping suddenly broke through the air along with laughter, "Well done Naruto-kun, you were flawless with your moves and techniques."

Naruto turned his head toward the person talking, "And who are you?"

"Kukuku, you already know who I am Naruto-kun."

'Orochimaru.' "So that's what you look like…can't say I'm surprised."

The stranger laughed again, "You are quite the joker; I like that." He disappeared and reappeared right in front of the blond with a hand implanted in his stomach, "But when it comes to me you will know your place."

Naruto was weezing for air due to the impact of the punch, "Just because (cough) you're a Sannin…(cough) doesn't mean you're better than me."

"Boy, you have a lot to learn when it comes to who you are talking to." The stranger lowered his head next to the blonde's ear, "But soon your insignificant mind won't matter because your body will be mine." He bared his fangs and slowly brought them down to Naruto's neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Orochimaru shot his head up and came face to face with a taller, older blonde. "Look what we have here…Tatsu-kun it has been a while."

"Plant those fangs in him and it'll be the last thing you do Orochimaru. I won't let you take him from me."

"Don't worry boy, I'll be back for you sooner or later." He whispered in Naruto's ear before letting go of him. He again lifted his head to look at the taller blonde, "I'm still curious as to how you got rid of yours Tatsu-kun."

"I have my ways." Lightning began to dance around Tatsu's hands and arms, "Don't try to run Orochimaru, you have no way out." Lightning struck a spot right next to the Sannin but he did not flinch; he just smiled. He threw his hands out in front of him in which snakes came flying out of his sleeves. Tatsu slowly raised his hand with his pointer finger aimed toward the living projectiles, "Raiton: Raitoningugan (Lightning Style: Lightning Gun)." He said in a low voice. A bright and powerful bolt of lightning shot out of the outstretched finger, completely obliterating the tons of snakes in a second. He frowned as he found Orochimaru nowhere in sight, "Soon enough, you'll get yours." He promised himself. "Hey otouto, are you ok?" he asked as he walked over to his now standing brother.

"Yea, I'm ok Nii-chan."

"That's good." Tatsu turned his head to see a pretty beat up and unconscious Mizuki lying on the ground. "Did you have to kick his ass that badly?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well he was aiming to kill, plus after everything he put me through, I decided to give him a piece of my mind."

"How many hits did it take you to make him unconscious?"

Naruto smiled, "Two, plus that tree behind him."

Tatsu chuckled, "You're getting stronger every day; You'll definitely surpass me soon enough." His expression then got serious, "Listen to me Naruto…" Said boy gave him his full attention, "When it comes to Orochimaru, be careful and do not underestimate him; He's a Sannin and a strong foe."

Naruto nodded, "I understand Nii-chan."

Tatsu smiled and ruffled his hair, "Good, now I'm going to dispel myself to relay what we've learn back to the original me. Stay safe on your way back and the real me will see you soon." With that the clone dispersed in a puff of smoke.

"Well Mizuki." Naruto smiled, almost evilly, "Time to get back to Konoha." He grasped the now barely conscious Chunin's arm and poured chakra in his feet as he bent down. In one fluid motion he sprung up in the air causing the ground beneath him to crater. With that one jump, you can basically say he was already half way to Konoha.

Back at Konoha…

"…And that's all that happened in Suna. The Kazekage wants us there for a while longer to discuss a few more things. After everything is settled, I and Hokage-sama will be on our way back." Concluded a cloned Tatsu.

"Ok, thank you Tatsu-san. You may take your leave now."

The tall blonde nodded before turning around and exiting through the giant doors of the council room. "While I'm here, I should see how everyone is doing. I'm pretty sure the original me would appreciate it." Suddenly, he was knocked to the ground while being straddled and pinned by a very happy looking Tokubetsu Jounin. "Ermm…Hi Anko-chan."

"And what do you think you're doing?" she said in a dangerous tone. If it was fake or not the blonde couldn't tell.

"I uhh…just got done talking with the council and now was about to go out and find you, but it looks like the shoe is on the other foot." The blonde chunckled.

Anko lowered her face dangerously close to Tatsu's, "Are you lying?"

"No, you know I don't lie and whatever you're thinking about doing you'll be doing to a Kage Bunshin."

"Oh, so this isn't really you…That sucks!" the purple-haired kunoichi pouted as she got off her fake lover.

"Hey if it makes you feel better I'll let the real me know he owes you…big time." The clone grinned

Anko let an evil smile form on her lips, "Ok, you do that. Also tell him that he knows where to find me." With that said she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

He nodded and gulped…how is she so intimidating?

"Nii-chan!" Tatsu shot his head to the origin of the voice and in the distance he could see a smaller blonde running toward him while waving.

"Hey otouto!"

Naruto skidded to a stop right in front of him, "I was able to capture him." He said with a bright smile.

Tatsu chuckled, "I expected nothing less from you, so where is he?"

"He's at the hospital resting with a group of Anbu shinobi watching him carefully."

"Nice….hey, how about we go to Ichiraku's, I need to visit Ayame-chan as well as Hima-chan before I dispel and we might find both of them there."

"Sounds good to me."

At Ichiraku's…

"So let me get this straight, both of you are dating the boy?" asked a very confused Teuchi.

Both Himari and Ayame nodded in confirmation. "Anko is dating him as well." Ayame said.

Teuchi just let his jaw drop, "Is he able to do that? Are you sure he loves all three of you?"

This time Himari answered, "Yes and yes."

The old man just put his hand on his forhead, "I hope you all know what you're doing."

"We do!" Both ladies answered simultaneously.

"Hey old man, Ayame-chan are you here?" asked/yelled Tatsu as he slid open the flaps of the ramen stand with Naruto following close behind. Ayame and Teuchi shot their heads forward while Himari spun around in her stool and all three of their eyes widened in surprise.

"Tatsu-kun!" both women said in unison once again. Himari shot up from her stool and brought her arms around his neck while kissing him passionately. When they finally ended the kiss, Tatsu was about to speak until he was hugged once again, this time by Ayame. "We've all missed you." She then kissed him passionately as well.

This time when the kiss ended he took a minute to breathe before he spoke, "As glad as I am to see you all this isn't the real me. Tatsu is still in Suna and he sent me here to keep the council up-to-date with the progress of the meetings and what not."

Upon hearing this both girls began to pout, causing the fake Tatsu to sweat drop. "Come on girls…listen, when I dispel I'll be sure to tell him that he owes the both of you big time."

Both women looked at each other before smiling evilly and looking back at the clone, "Ok." Himari said with Ayame following up on her response, "Also let him know that he knows where to find us."

The Kage Bunshin sweat dropped once again and nodded.

Both girls looked beside the taller blonde to see Naruto looking at them. "Uhh..hi you two."

"Naruto-kun!" This time both girls hugged the smaller blonde at the same time, as to how…it's complicated.

"Ayame-chan…Hima-chan…can't…breathe." He said while trying to gasp for air. His cries were unheard by the two as they continued to hug him. "Please….stop…." he said as loud as he could, which wasn't very loud but the two women caught it. They instantly dropped him and backed off while laughing with a blush on both of their faces.

"Thank…(gasp)…you."

…..

"See you later guys!" Naruto yelled while waving his hand and walking out of the stand. The clone of his Nii-chan had already dispelled a while ago, which left Naruto to explain the events that unfolded today. Himari grinned at his explanation and couldn't help but be proud of the teen, while Ayame looked at him with amazement. The boy had improved substantially and there was only more improvement to come.

'I might as well get back home and train for the genin exams…there's nothing else better to do.' The blonde lifted his hands and placed them on the back of his head, 'I wonder how Sakura is doing? I haven't seen her all day…then again I was out chasing a criminal.'

"Naruto!" said teen spun around only to find the girl of his thoughts running toward him. "Hey Sakura, what's up?"

"Have you seen Sasuke-kun anywhere?"

'_This Sakura girl has a crush on the Uchiha and now that she has cleared things up with you, all of her attention is going to be directed toward him.' _Naruto furrowed his eyebrows at the memory and shook his head a little in an attempt to rid it of his mind. He then placed a grin on his face, "Sorry Sakura but I haven't, why?"

"Oh, well…" the pinkette blushed, "I was going to see if he wanted to go out on a date with me."

For some reason her response made his grin falter, "Don't worry, you'll see him around somewhere, then you'll get your chance." He began rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I need to get home Sakura, the Genin exams are in a week and I want to be ready for them." The blonde turned on the ball of his foot and took one step before his arm was being held in place by the pinkette's grasp.

"Wait! I…I want to be ready for them too…can I come with you?" a small blush accompanied her question.

Naruto looked over his shoulder and gave her a confused look before smiling, "Sure."

End Chapter 14…

Here's the new chapter, sorry if it's too short but I rarely have time to myself when it comes to updating the story. Please stay tuned for the new chapter, till next time! Ja ne!


	16. Team 7

Chapter 15: Team 7

The sun's rays finally peaked beyond the horizon and Naruto's eyes fluttered open, as if the light was his own personal alarm clock. Finally, today was the first stage in proving his worth and making himself known. Today, he officially becomes a Konoha shinobi. The hardships he had to endure all his life didn't matter now, sure the memories could not be forgotten, but they can be locked away and buried. Anyhow, it was finally time to take his first step into gaining something he wanted all his life, acknowledgement. Sure, only a few would finally accept him but it was enough to make the blonde confident and ready. The skill that he had acquired far surpassed Genin level and there was no doubt that this exam would be a piece of cake. With that set aside, there was one thing still bothering him; those words of the stranger he had encountered twice already still lingered within in his mind. The conversations the two shared were repeating themselves over and over to a point where it almost became irritating.

""_Believe what you want now, but soon enough you'll begin to question your beliefs."_ That was the one statement that bothered him the most. The hooded man was so sure and confident in his words, that they were believable. The blonde shook his head, 'I can't let it get to me.' He lazily rose from his bead and began his morning routine of getting ready for the day.

Afterwards…

Naruto nonchalantly stretched his arms before opening his front door and proceeding to the Academy. 'To think it's already been a week; people are right when they say time flies.' Out of habit, he put his hands behind his head, a sure sign that he was relaxed and calm. During those four years of training with his Nii-chan and Hima-chan he learned how to keep his emotions in check. Yes, he still wore a "mask" when it was required but when his emotions began to react chaotically he forced them down and maintained his state of normalcy. The quick glares and hateful glances didn't affect him anymore; quite frankly he didn't care what the villagers thought of him because he knew that one day he would earn their respect.

"_That may be, but since your brother is an Anbu Captain, do you think he'll have any time for you? This Sakura girl has a crush on the Uchiha and now that she has cleared things up with you, all of her attention is going to be directed toward him. The violet-haired one only spends time training with you, other than that she does her own thing. And finally, your Hokage you rarely see, unless he requests for your presence." _

The blonde furrowed his eyebrows, these thoughts were really annoying. 'Argh, I need to stop thinking about those conversations!'

'**Keep your mind focused on today's event. It'll take your mind off of them.'**

'I'm trying, but every time I try to think of something else they pop back up.' He sighed. 'Not only that but what Orochimaru said is bothering me too. It's obvious he wants me for your power, but what exactly will he do with that power. He can't control it and he won't be able to use it as his chakra because it's too potent.'

'**The only way he can use my power is by manipulating you and if he ever caught you, he would try to change you.'**

'I remember Nii-chan saying that he would experiment on subjects that he captured or "marked." Speaking of which, Nii-chan must have been marked by him because of what he said during their confrontation.'

'**So since he couldn't have Tatsu, he sees you as another chance of getting what he failed to receive in the first place.'**

'Then I need to grow stronger in order to take him down…and then there's the Akatsuki. They want you specifically and in order to get you they have to extract you out of my body which in the end will kill me. Do you know what they'll use you're power for?'

'**No. But I do know that they need myself and the other eight for a ritual of sorts.'**

'Wait…the night that you attacked the village, you said you were being manipulated right?'

'**Yes, I was enraged for particularly no reason.'**

'So that means they're extracting you in order to manipulate you and use you for their own goals. Do you remember anything about how you were controlled?'

'**Uchiha Madara…he put me under a Genjutsu by using **_**those **_**eyes.' **Kyuubi spat.

'Uchiha…the Sharingan? It's that powerful?'

'**His was and I couldn't break free of it. Normally nothing as simple as that Kekai Genkai can control me.'**

'Hmm…from what I've learned, there are different variants of the Sharingan but too be able to control you….I'll have to learn more about it.' The teen sighed once again before returning to deep thought. He knew that Uchiha Madara was defeated by the first Hokage and it was believed that he was killed. But that was obviously a lie due to Kyuu-chan's hands on experience with the person. The Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Uchiha Madara…the blonde had already made big time enemies without even doing anything. At his current skill level there was no way he was physically powerful enough to take them head on, but if he could outsmart them, then maybe he can mislead them. That's when a smile formed on his face; he already had a plan; basically killing two birds with one stone. All he had to do was tear off the slip of paper that represented the foundation of the seal. The only problem to that plan…he could die. 'And dying now would suck.'

'**What do you mean?'**

'Oh…ermm nothing, I was just thinking about how I would face any of these people with knowing that I'm not strong enough.'

'**Naru-kun, you don't have to physically outmatch them, but you can try to outsmart them.'**

'That's exactly what I was thinking.'

'**So you already have a plan?'**

'Yep I do.'

'**Care to explain?'**

'It's a surprise. I'll tell you once I know it's full proof.'

'**Naru-kun…'** she was obviously annoyed.

'I swear you'll like it.'

'…**Ok, but you better tell me before you actually decide to go through with it.'**

'Ok.' With that the mental link between the two was severed, leaving Naruto to find himself in front of the Academy's main entrance. "Well…here goes nothing."

…..

Almost every student within the classroom looked nervous to say the least. They were being called into a separate room that was off to the side of the classroom and the students bodies would visibly tense each time a name was called.

"Naruto!" the Jinchuuriki looked toward the person who called him and upon spotting her he smiled. Sakura could be seen in the front of the crowd of students waving her hand. She was standing next to a girl known as Ino, who had platinum blonde hair and wore an outfit that consisted of purple (please see the outfit on google or try to remember it, I'm kind of tired of describing clothing in great detail). Naruto walked over to the two girls until he was right next to Sakura.

"Ohayo, Sakura! Ino!" the blonde gave a small wave to accompany his verbal greeting. Ino gave a small smile and wave in return.

"Do you think you're ready for the exams?" The pinkette asked.

"Yep, what about you?"

"I think I am, thanks to you."

Naruto chuckled at her responde, "I'm glad I could help." He averted his gaze toward Ino, "What about you Ino?"

The platinum blonde smiled once again before answering, "I think I'm ready too; it shouldn't be that hard."

"Sakura Haruno!" Iruka called from the room. The pinkette released a nervous sigh, in which afterwards her expression was set with determination. She walked in without hesitation and the door immediately closed behind her. Only a few minutes passed when the door to the accursed room reopened with the pinkette walking out with a triumphant smile on her face. She proudly displayed her well-earned hitai-ate for all too see before walking to her place beside her two blonde companions.

One by one, students were being called into the examination room and thus far all were successful in becoming fresh Shinobi. Finally one name was called that made said person 'eep' in surprise. "Yamanaka Ino!" Came the loud voice of Iruka which startled everybody in the room. Said girl gave her two companions one last look and mouthed "Wish me luck," before walking into the exam room. After several minutes the exam door finally opened again with Ino in the doorway jumping up and down excitedly. She ran back to her two friends and showcased her well-earned hitai-ate. "I passed!"

"Great!" Naruto said cheerfully while givering her a "thumbs up". Sakura congratulated her as well by repeating what Naruto said.

The exam continued on with more students going into the exam room and coming out victorious until yet another important named was called. "Uchiha Sasuke!" The boy's expression remained stoic and he coolly walked into the room with an aura of confidence surrounding him. There was no doubt that he would pass yet the students were still awaiting their unanswered question to be relinquished from their minds. Anticipation was high but soon died down as the Uchiha walked out with a smirk on his face and a hitai-ate strapped to his forehead. The girls of the room silently cheered for his accomplishment while most of the males had either a look of approval on their faces or were indifferent.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called and this time the room was thick with tension. The class had been anticipating the blonde's examination the most, as to why; well it's not every day that you see somebody defeat the "Rookie of the Year" in a sparring match. In fact most of the students remembered Naruto as clown and a prankster, not capable of even being able to defend himself against adversaries of his own age. With this being the case, the big question was "how?" How did he become so skillful? How is he able to defend himself now? How was he able to defeat somebody that was greatly beyond his skill level? Naruto wasn't oblivious to the stares he was receiving, but he ignored them. Soon enough he would answer their questions, not through his words but through his actions. He looked at both Ino and Sakura and smiled before walking into the room and allowing the door to close behind him.

Upon entering the room, the Jinchuuriki spotted Iruka sitting at a desk parallel to the door but adjacent to the wall behind him. Generally, speaking the piece of furniture was facing the door at the far end of the room. Sitting next to the Chunin was another Chunin that the blonde had never seen before. His hair was black, spikey, and unruly and he was dressed in the simple Chunin attire. But there was one thing that made him stand out and it was his eyes. They were azure blue which openly displayed his emotions and that was a dead giveaway for Naruto. "Nii-chan!" he said surprised yet happy nonetheless. The Chunin smiled broadly before placing his finger on his lips in a "shushing" notion, "Are you ready for your exam?" he asked curiously but already knew the answer. Naruto displayed his foxy smile before nodding and walking closer to them so that they were slightly face to face.

"All right then, first thing I need you to do is to perform a proper henge."

"Right!" was all the blonde said before he situated his hands in the proper hand sign and a large puff of smoke erupted from where he stood. As the smoke cleared a very…hot female became visible…and she was completely naked with only bits of the remaining smoke covering her most precious areas and for extra effect on the examiners she winked, "How's this?" she asked seductively. Both Iruka and the henged Tatsu's reactions were instantaneous; Iruka flew out of his seat backwards, with a considerable amount of blood shooting out of his nose while Tatsu fell out of his chair laughing at his partner's reaction. After a couple minutes Iruka was finally able to pick himself up and he had a VERY annoyed look on his face. Directly after him Tatsu picked himself up, still chuckling, "That's good otouto! But please, try to take this more seriously." He said while wiping a stray tear from his eye. The attractive female smiled and elicited an "awww" before a puff of smoke once again filled the spot and the normal, male version of Naruto reappeared.

This time Iruka gave the next set of directions…in a displeased tone, "Ok, now see those targets over there." The brunette pointed to Naruto's right causing said boy to look in that direction. Before the blonde were five targets that were dummies; Iruka continued to speak, "On this portion, we'll score you on accuracy and spot of damage-" Tatsu interrupted him to throw in his own two cents, "We all know which appendages of the dummies score you the highest points, so please try your best." Iruka glared half-heartedly at his friend and he received a sheepish smile in response.

Naruto swiftly drew kunai from his leg pouch and threw five at each intended target. Four of the five kunai hit four dummies in the chest right where the heart would be while the final one hit the last dummy in the head. Iruka, for a split-second, had a look of surprise on his face but it quickly faded and was replaced with a smile; Tatsu mirrored his later reaction. "Lastly," Tatsu said, "We need you to create a functioning Bushin."

The teen gave both examiners a quizzical stare, "Does it matter which variation of bunshin I use?"

Both Chunin looked at each other before they looked at the examinee and shook their heads. Once again Naruto showcased his trade mark grin before morphing his hands into his signature hand seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and right before their eyes, two more "Narutos" poofed into existence, flanking the originals sides. Iruka's eyes nearly popped out of his skull before he looked at his fellow examiner, "Did you teach him that?" The only response he got was a shrug. Naruto instantly canceled the jutsu causing his two clones to "poof" out of existence.

"Do I pass?" he asked.

Once again the examiners looked at each other before turning their attention back at the blonde with Iruka nodding dumbly and Tatsu smiling broadly, "I'd say you pass with flying colors…and I think Iruka agrees." The disguised blonde rose up from his seat and walked over to his brother with a peculiar hitai-ate in his hand. Standard Shinobi hitai-ate consisted of a blue cloth with a metal plate attached to it bearing Konoha's symbol. This head band however, consisted of a long black cloth which looked as if shrapnel had torn the ends off of it. The metal plate had scratches on the surface, making it look like it's been through hundreds of battles and survived them all.

Tatsu began to speak, "I received this hitai-ate when I became a Jounin. I was young, no older than you are now and I was told that I deserved it. Now I'm giving it to you; after everything you've struggled for and accomplished, I know you more than deserve it." As he finished he let a small smile grace his lips.

Tears were threatening to fall from Naruto's eyes as he gladly accepted the hitai-ate and wrapped it around his head, forcefully pulling on the knot he created to make sure it was secure. A few seconds of silence ensued between them before the young blonde surprisingly wrapped his brother in a hug, with his arms connecting around his mid-back. Tatsu reacted without any hesitation and instantly rested his hands on his brothers back. When the hug finally ended, Naruto pulled back and smiled broadly, openly displaying his happiness.

All the students shot their eyes at the exam door as it slowly opened to reveal the classmate they were most anxious about. Some of the students' eyes widened while others smiled, because there on Naruto's forehead was his prize for passing the exam. Not only that but the hitai-ate was not of standard issue and that's when questions started to fill their heads. Naruto calmly walked back to his spot next to Sakura and Ino, who both were staring in awe at the design of the unique headband.

"How were you able to get a hitai-ate like that?" Ino asked.

Naruto smiled brightly, "Someone very close gave it to me."

Sakura and Ino looked at each other questionably; was it family he was talking about? They never saw him with his mother or father or anybody else for that matter. He was always alone….which raised the next question, who was Naruto Uzunaki? Four years ago they thought (mostly Ino) that he was loud, brash and idiotic, but the more they saw of him now the more it seemed that the Naruto of the past was an act. The blonde teen was more of a mystery to them than Sasuke; they knew what happened to the Uchiha and his family for it is part of Konoha's history and it's taught in class. Even though they never explained any specifics about that tragic event they knew why the dark-haired boy was alone. Naruto on the other hand…there was nothing. That set a motivation in both girls' minds to find out more about the blonde than just general details. This being the case, Sakura already had a plan.

The exam door reopened and the head of a Chunin both girls have never seen before popped out, "Alright class, that concludes the Genin exams, you all can leave and be sure to return here in a week for your team assignments." With that said the door closed shut and all the students whether pass or fail left the room.

"So what are you two going to do now?" Ino questioned the blonde and the pinkette as they walked side by side toward Konoha's marketplace. Naruto was the first to answer.

"I'm probably going to head over to Ichiraku's for some ramen; then I'm heading home."

With that answer, Sakura set her plan in motion, "Can I come with you?" A blush immediately crossed her face, "To eat ramen I mean."

Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise before settling into a smile, "I don't see why not."

"Can I come too?" Both the blonde and the pinkette shot their heads over to Ino in surprise. "What? I have nothing better to do."

…

The sun was just setting on the horizon, making the sky change from a clear blue to a mixture of blue and orange. At this point in time, Naruto was walking back from his meal with Sakura and Ino, which to say the least, was interesting. As soon as they got there both girls started to bombard him with questions. He knew they were trying to get to know him better, but he only gave a general answer when a question was too personal or what not.

'I don't know why they have taken a sudden interest in me. I thought Sasuke was the person they would be going after like this.' The blonde thought.

"**Maybe they've had a change of heart." **

'I don't know about tha-'

The blonde's thoughts were cut off by the sound of an eerie laugh that resonated from not too far down the path he was walking on. The more he walked the louder the laugh was until he spotted a figure sitting on a bench off to the side of the road. Immediately, Naruto stopped in his tracks and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So I see you passed the Genin exam; I would have expected nothing less from you." The man said with his hood hiding his pleased expression.

"What do you want? Why are you here?" the blonde asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Ah, so many questions laced with hostility. I'm just here to congratulate you on your accomplishment."

"Stop playing around; we both know that's a lie."

"So much mistrust too, but I admire you for that. In the ninja world, trust is a very hard thing to come by."

"What…do…you…want?" Each word the Jinchuuriki spewed out was laced with venom.

"Me? I don't want anything, as I said before I wanted to congratulate you…also I wanted to know how you were doing."

'Bullshit!' Naruto screamed in his mind.

"**Naru-kun, keep calm; he's toying with you."**

'I know, but-'

"I see you're talking to your little friend. It's not that hard to notice, you know."

"How do you know of her?" Naruto yelled.

The man stood up from his seated position and began to walk toward his target, "Naruto, you need to understand that I know a lot of things. Now, you still need to answer my question." At this point both males were face to face.

"You act like we're friends and if you think that then you're wrong."

The man let out an amused chuckle, "You're acting like a true Shinobi. You don't trust anybody but yourself."

"I just don't trust you."

Again the man chuckled, "If that's the case then what about your two friends that you were with not too long ago. They wanted to get to know you better, yet you denied them any specifics to the questions they asked you."

Naruto's eyes widened at the statement, "That's…different, it's not that I don't trust them; I just don't want-"

"Them to know why you're shunned from the village," the man finished for him. "You're afraid they'll shun you too. As cowardly as that is, I understand your fears."

"You don't understand you bastard! You don't know what it feels like to be feared, to be hated for something that you had no control over." Tears began streaming down the blonde's eyes, "I hate having this…this curse!"

"Ah, so having the Kyuubi sealed within you is a curse eh?" the man laughed a little, "Does this mean you hate the Kyuubi too?"

Again Naruto's eyes widened, "N-no, t-that's not what I meant!"

"Are you sure? Because it certainly sounded like it."

"Stop it! She's protected me ever since I was a defenseless child, I don't hate-" Without warning, the man lashed his hand out and grasped Naruto's throat, lifting him up in the air.

"You still are a defenseless child." The man said darkly, "The darkness in your heart will consume you and then you will come to me for guidance." Shock consumed Naruto's being as he was slowly being choked. When his mind finally kicked into gear, he quickly formed a rotating ball of chakra into one of his free hands. "Rasengan!" he rapidly thrusted the ball into the man's stomach, causing the hooded figure to drop him and skid back a few feet.

"Hehe, nice attack little Naruto but I'm afraid I can't fight you now. We will meet again." With that said, the man faded into the background. Naruto slowly rose to his feet while eliciting coughs in order to catch his breath.

'Kyu-chan?' He called for the one being he needed to talk to, yet no answer came. 'Kyu-chan?' again no answer. The scenery around him quickly changed to that of his mindscape, "Kyu-chan!" he yelled.

"Yes Naruto?"

Said boy immediately turned around to find Kyuubi staring directly into his eyes. Tears were threatening to fall down her face and the sight of that made the blonde's heart constrict. "Kyu-chan…listen, what I said…I-I was angry and everything he was saying…" He hesitantly took steps toward his companion, "Please…don't cry. I don't hate you; how could I hate you?" his steps ceased and he stopped right in front of her, with his face mere inches away from hers. The crimson-haired girl averted her gaze; looking at anything but his eyes. "Please…look at me." The desperation in his voice caused her to do as he asked and as soon as her eyes made contact with his she saw the sorrow and pain in his soul. Right now, Naruto was showing his true colors, the ones he usually hid under his mask. That man was trying to shatter his mind and let the darkness within in consume him. Even though that's the case, what her container did say throughout his outburst hurt.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." This was the only thing the blonde could say. He knew the man was toying with him but he let his emotions get the better of him and as a result, caused pain to a person that was close to his heart.

Suddenly, a pair of warm lips descended onto his, causing his eyes to widen in shock. The hesitation was evident in Naruto's stature but it instantly diminished as he responded with uncertainty. Kyuubi's hands snaked around his neck and pushed him further into the kiss and she almost gasped in surprised when his hands found their way around her waist. She needed this; he needed this; they both needed this and because of this simple action they knew that there bond would be strengthened to a point where it is nearly unbreakable.

After what seemed like hours they finally broke away and Naruto was the first to speak, "Kyu-chan…I'm sorr-" A feminine finger was put to his lips, shushing him instantly.

"It's ok Naru-kun; He was toying with you, trying to get you to submit to your anger and hatred." She kissed him once more before continuing, "Don't let what he said control who you become; make your own destiny."

"Arigato, Kyu-chan."

The demoness smiled softly as the body of her beloved container began to fade into nothing. The blonde smiled back before his body completely disappeared from his mindscape and his mind came back to reality. When he opened his eyes he found himself sitting on the bench that the hooded man was on. With a big sigh, he got up and calmly walked in the direction to his home.

One week later…

'Today is the day!' thought an excited pink-haired girl as she sat up-straight on her bed. 'I wonder who will be on my team. I hope it'll be with people I know."

She excitedly got out of her bed and did her morning rituals of preparing for the day.

A few moments later…

"Hey mom I'm heading out to the academy now, I'll see you later!" Sakura yelled to her parent as she quickly ran down the stairs and was already out the door.

"Ok dear, see you when you get home!" Her mother yelled, but unfortunately the pink-haired girl was already out of hearing range.

So many questions were running through Sakura's head while she speedily walked to her destination. Who would she be teamed with? Who would be her sensei be? Who would Naruto be teamed with? Speaking of the blonde-haired boy, he was still a mystery to her. When she, Ino, and he were at Ichiraku's last week he rarely spoke and the questions that were asked pertaining him were answered poorly. He was obviously hiding something and it was frustrating her to no end. Getting to know the blonde was going to be a harder task than she first thought, but she was not, by any means, ready to give up. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the kids in her class talking aloud as she neared her classroom. Once she was inside, she surveyed the crowd of students, trying to locate any familiar faces. That's when a blonde heap of hair and blue eyes came into her view and she immediately walked toward the person she spotted. "Hey Naruto!"

The blonde boy focused his gaze on the pinkette heading his way and offered a smile, along with a wave.

Sakura happily took a seat beside him and began to talk, "So, are you excited for today?"

"Yea! I've been wondering all week who I would be teamed up with. It'd be good if we were teamed up together, ne?" Sakura nodded her head, with a small blush to accompany the gesture. "I've also been wondering who our sensei would be." The blonde added.

"Me too."

"Ok class! Listen up!" Came the voice of Iruka, catching everyone's undivided attention. "As you know, today you will be assigned to your Genin teams. Now pay attention, and meet up with your teammates as each of you is grouped." Iruka cleared his throat before continuing, "Now Team one will consist of…"

The brown-haired Chunin went down the list, equally dividing the students into teams and assigning each team a sensei. Finally, after a few minutes Iruka got down to what he announced as team 7. "Team 7 will consist of Haruno Sakura," said girl perked her head up toward the front of the class and slowly stood up, "Uchiha Sasuke," said boy gave an audible "Hn," before standing up and walking over to Sakura, "And finally, Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde boy gave a light sigh before standing up as well, staying in his spot. "Your sensei will be…what!" Iruka's eyes widened at the paper in his hand, apparently shocked at the piece of information in front of him, but that immediately wore off and a light chuckle escaped his lips. "Seems like he's finally coming out of hiding."

"Um…Iruka-sensei, who is it?" Sakura asked.

"Team 7, you're sensei will be Tatsu Uzumaki."

CHAPTER 15 ENDS…

Well, here you go. Sorry for the long wait, but college has been a pain in the ass. I'll hopefully update soon and if you're confused about anything pertaining to the story please let me know. Thank you to all the readers that have been reading the story up to this point. Oh, and before I forget, I'm sorry if it's starting to look as if the story is being rushed. I'm trying to get to the exciting parts of the story and if you want me to slow down or what not let me know...Till next time…


	17. Reminiscing

Chapter 16: Reminiscing

_Flashback…_

_Naruto was, to say the least, confused. "What?"_

_Iruka repeated himself, "Your sensei is Tatsu Uzumaki."_

"_But I thought…he told me he was becoming an Anbu captain, he even asked for my opinion on his decision." The blonde did not know what to think at this point. How was his Nii-chan their sensei if he had other duties to attend to? _

"_That's something you'll have to discuss with him Naruto. Now moving on, Team 8 will consist of…"_

'_He must have turned down the offer…or something.'_

"_**You're going to have to find out when he appears."**_

'_I definitely will.'_

"_Naruto?" _

"_Hmm? What's up Sakura?"_

"_I thought your Nii-san wanted to keep his existence a secret." (A/N: There will be another part in the story where a flashback will occur with Naruto and Sakura conversing about his brother.)_

"_He did, but we'll know why he decided to reveal himself once he arrives."_

"_Ok…I thought he would have told you why beforehand."_

"_Me too."_

_The both of them stayed silent as the remaining Genin were being assigned to their teams. Both Naruto and Sakura were anticipating their sensei's arrival as both had quite a few questions to ask him. Believe it or not, Sasuke was intrigued by this new discovery; the dark-haired boy never encountered Naruto when he was little but he had caught glimpses of him. The blonde was always alone when he saw him; no friends, no family…nothing. So why suddenly, does he have a brother? The Uchiha shook his head of his thoughts; now was not the time to solve a mystery._

"_Alright that's the last of you. Now your senseis' will arrive in a few minutes; before I go I wanted to congratulate all of you on becoming Genin. You've taken your first step in the life of a ninja and I couldn't be more proud." Smiling after his final words, Iruka quietly exited the classroom leaving all of his post-students determined and happy._

_Upon Iruka leaving, Sasuke began to speak, "Hey dobe?"_

_Both Sakura and Naruto turned their attention toward their dark-haired comrade in confusion. "Who're you talking to?" The blonde decided to ask the question for the both of them._

"_I'm talking to you, dobe." Sasuke smirked while Naruto's right eye twitched; the Uchiha continued to speak, "Since when did you have a brother?"_

"_And tell me why I should answer your question…teme." Naruto smiled as Sasuke was openly displaying his annoyance with his new nickname. _

"_Tch…Whatever, he's probably a loser, like you."_

_Sakura just watched the little verbal battle that was occurring between the two boys. The thing that all three of them didn't catch was that their sensei was right behind them, watching the events unfold. But upon hearing that he was supposedly a "loser" he made his presence known. "Ya know…I don't like being called a loser, and I don't think my brother does either."_

"_AHHH!"_

"_GAAAHH!"_

"_EEEP!"_

_(A/N: I'll let you guess who yelled what.)_

_The three Genin immediately spun around on their heels to find Tatsu smiling at them. Sasuke began to blush out of embarrassment and immediately looked down in an attempt to hide it. Naruto's expression was neutral…ah did he have a lot of questions to ask his Nii-chan. Sakura began to blush as well, but it wasn't out of embarrassment. 'So this is what he looks like up close,' her blush deepened, 'Is this what Naruto is going to look like when he's older?'_

"_Well, we should get started with introductions so meet me atop the Hokage Monument asap." With that said the older blonde disappeared in a flash._

_Naruto was only able to smile while his two teammates had one thought going through their mind, 'How'd he do that?'_

_Atop the Hokage Monument…_

_The not-so-quick journey to the landmark finally ended with Sakura and Sasuke slightly winded do to the running they had to endure. Naruto, on the other hand, was well off and only smiled at his comrades when they came to a stop and found there sensei at the edge of the large cliff, staring down at the village._

"_Alright, now that you all are here," Tatsu turned around to face his newly assigned students, "I'll start the introductions. My name is Tatsu Uzumaki, my hobbies consist of training, going on missions, and taking care of my otouto. My likes…well there are some likes __**I**__ like to keep to myself but others include ramen hanging out with my friends, and helping people that deserve it. As for my dislikes…traitors, snakes, and people who think they're better than others." The tall blonde took a deep breath before pointing at Sasuke, "Your turn my friend."_

"_Ok…My name is Sasuke Uchiha, my hobbies are training and stuff. My likes are none of your concern and my dislikes are also none of your concern."_

_Tatsu sweat dropped, "Come on Sasuke, we're a team after all so don't be like that."_

_The dark-haired boy released a sigh before saying, "Fine…" he continued, "My likes are training, becoming stronger and…I don't know eating? As for my dislikes…I…really don't feel like saying."_

_It was Tatsu's turn to sigh, "I guess that's good enough." He rubbed his hand through his messy hair, 'He's almost like his brother; I need to make sure he doesn't follow through with his goals.' "Your turn." He pointed at Sakura._

"_O-ok, my name is Sakura Haruno, my hobbies are helping others, training with Naruto, and Hanging out with friends. My likes…umm…" she blushed at her thoughts but did not follow through with displaying them verbally, "My dislikes are people who look down on others."_

'_Hmm…what my otouto said during those four years certainly doesn't apply now. I guess being around him changed her for the better.' Tatsu smiled at his own thoughts. "All right, your turn otouto."_

"_Right! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, my hobbies include training, sleeping, spending time with my Nii-chan, helping Sakura train, and hanging out with my friends. My likes are ramen and other things. My dislikes are umm…are basically what the rest of you said." Naruto finished as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head._

_Tatsu couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's responses, "Hehe alright, now that that's done with there are a couple things I need to tell you guys before I send you off. One, there will be another sensei of this team and he'll show up tomorrow when we meet again; two, I'll be issuing a test to the three of you tomorrow and it starts at 11:00 in the morning, make sure not to be late." He absent mindedly stretched his arms and elicited a yawn, "Now that's all, I'll see you guys tomorrow." And with that he once again disappeared in a flash._

_All three Genin looked at each other in confusion before Sasuke decided speak, "I'm going to head home." He immediately turned around and began his descent down the monument._

_Naruto turned to Sakura and gave her a smile, "I'm going to go find where my Nii-chan went and get some answers out of him. I'll see you tomorrow Sakura." As he was about to turn and leave, the pinkette grabbed his wrist._

"_Wait!"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_Can we stay here for a little while; I have something to ask you." Sakura whispered the last part._

"_Ok?"_

_She led him to the edge of the cliff and sat down, gently forcing the blonde to sit with her. When Naruto looked at her, he saw an expression of uncertainty displayed on her face and that's when he decided to be the one to start the conversation "Is something wrong?"_

"_Do…do you hate me?" she asked which was just above a whisper._

"_What? Hate you?" He did not expect that question. _

_Sakura just nodded her head._

"_Why do you ask?"_

_The pinkette turned her head in order to look at him, "Because when we're together you seem distant. Do you really forgive me for how I treated you back then?"_

"_Sakura…." He sighed, "I have forgiven you, but like I said to you before I can't forget. Does it still haunt me? Yes… I just…nevermind."_

"_Please Naruto…tell me." She pleaded._

_Naruto averted his gave toward his lap, "…I know we were small but I really cared for you. I tried to make you happy…but it was like you didn't care and I don't want to experience all of that unjust again, especially from someone I truly care about." Without warning, Sakura instantly wrapped her arms around the Jinchuuriki's midsection and rested her head on his chest._

"_I'm sorry Naruto…I'm so sorry." She sobbed._

_Naruto wrapped one arm around her shoulder and rested his opposing hand on her head, "Sakura…it's ok…I already forgave you." And to comfort her further he did something pretty out of character. He kissed the top of her head, which made Sakura sigh in satisfaction._

_A few minutes passed and the blonde was about to release himself from the embrace but Sakura only hugged tighter, "Please Naruto…can we stay like this for a little longer?"_

_He smiled, "Anything for you…Sakura-chan."_

"_**Seems like you've gained someone's affections." **__Kyuubi said abruptly._

'…_Yea…wait are you jealous?'_

_The Kitsune just laughed, __**"Of course not. I don't mind sharing you."**_

'_Oh…wait what!"_

_Later on…_

"_I finally found you!"_

_Both Tatsu and Himari shot their gazes at Naruto who was standing in the doorway of their apartment. Both owners of the place were currently situated on a couch in front of a T.V. with Tatsu sitting upright while holding a snuggling Himari who was laying down on the piece of furniture._

"_Umm..Hi to you to otouto?" The taller blonde said questionably_

"_We need to talk."Naruto said firmly._

_Tatsu let out a small sigh as he stood up from the couch, bringing his beloved with him. "Alright, let's talk." He stated; letting go of Himari._

"_I thought you said you took the position of Anbu Black Ops Captain."_

"_I did…but then after thinking it through some more I decided to wait." Tatsu said calmly._

"_Why?" _

"_There's still more that I have to teach you and I thought it would be easier to do that if I became the sensei of your team."_

"_But you can't just work with me; you have to train Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme too." Naruto's voice grew louder with each word he said._

_Tatsu was a little surprised by his tone, "Naruto, I know what the priorities of being a sensei are and I understand I need to train the both them. The three of you are a team and all of you will be treated as equals." His tone was raised a bit as well._

_Naruto's anger died down immediately and he lowered his head, "…Gomen Nii-chan."_

_The elder brother walked up to his smaller counterpart and put a hand on his head, "Hey it's fine. Now is there anything else you want to talk about?" The younger blonde shook his head which caused his Nii-chan to ask another question," Well why don't you stay for a bit? Hima-chan is going to fix some ramen for dinner."_

"_She can make ramen?" Naruto was practically amazed by the discovery. Tatsu smiled and nodded his head while Himari blushed a bit at the kind of recognition she was receiving. "Of course I'll stay!"_

_Flashback interrupted…_

"Hey Naruto!" The blonde boy was pulled out of his thoughts by a platinum-haired girl.

"Ah, hey Ino-chan! Come here to eat ramen?" he asked happily.

"Not really…I was on my way back to my parents flower shop until I saw you sitting here, so I decided to stop and say hi." She exclaimed.

"Oh…well ok. How have you been?"

"I've been great! Me and my team were assigned a lot of missions ever since we became official and Asuma-sensei is trying hard to get us our first C-ranked mission!" She answered in an excited tone.

"That's great!"

Ino nodded her head, "So how's everything going with you and your team?"

"I've been great! Though our team has been a little on edge due to our upcoming mission. Our senseis have requested that we go on-"

"Wait!" Ino's eyes widened, "You guys have more than one sensei?"

Naruto nodded, "We were just as surprised as you are when we found out."

"Who are they?"

"One sensei is my own Nii-chan-"

"You have a brother?" Again the platinum-blonde was surprised.

Her fellow blonde opted to laugh at her new found discovery, "Hahaha, I forgot that you didn't know. Yea I do have a brother," He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Anyway, our other sensei is Kakashi. My Nii-chan said that since…

_Flashback…._

"…_Sasuke is an Uchiha, he will need proper training once he unlocks his Sharingan. Kakashi here will be assigned to help him with that. He'll also be teaching you two a thing or two of what he knows, isn't that right buddy?" Tatsu patted his fellow Shinobi on the back causing the scarecrow-looking man to sigh._

"_Why am I doing this again?" he asked while looking up from a peculiar sort-of pocket book._

"_Because I said so; unless you want that little book," he pointed at said peculiar book, "to be burned along with the others you have."_

_Kakashi's singular eyebrow rose in disbelief as he stared at the blonde, "You wouldn't!"_

"_Do you wanna try me?" Tatsu only grinned._

_Kakashi sighed miserably, "…Right." Sakura and Naruto began to laugh at the Jounin's misfortune while Sasuke just smirked._

_End Flashback…._

"That's a weird way to get someone to help you." Ino said in slight amusement.

"That's really the only way you can get Kakashi-sensei to do something for you….Are you sure you don't want to eat anything? I'll pay for it."

Ino giggled at her friends kindness, "It's okay Naruto; I have to get going anyway."

"Alright…at least let me walk you to your destination." Naruto took the necessary money out of his wallet to pay for his meal and placed it on the table, "Teuchi-jiisan! The money is on the table, I'll see you later." The teen heard an "Ok!" and stood up beside Ino, "Are you ready?"

Ino blushed, "Um…y-yes."

….

Both blonde's walked in silence next to each other, on route to Ino's family owned flower shop. To say the silence was comfortable would have been a lie, well…only for one person and that was Ino. She couldn't really explain the feeling at the pit of her stomach but ever since she started to see more of Naruto, that feeling has been growing. She never took the time to get to know the boy up until they were assigned to their respectful teams…which was six months ago. Now, whenever she had the free time she would seek him out to see if he wanted to do something. Again she couldn't explain why she had such an ambition lately, but she didn't mind it. The male blonde was always fun to hang out with and he would listen to anything she had to say. Not only that, but if she was in a sour mood he would always try to find a way to cheer her up.

"Ino? Are you ok?" Naruto asked worriedly, which broke the girl from her thoughts.

"Oh uh…yea I am, why?"

"I was just wondering; you looked like you were confused about something." The jinchuuriki was looking at his friend quizzically.

"It's nothing Naruto, so no need to worry." She smiled as she finished her sentence.

Naruto nodded his head and turned his attention to what was in front of him. After a few more minutes of walking, both came to a stop at Ino's destination and Naruto turned to face his fellow blonde. "I guess this is your stop, huh?" The platinum-blonde nodded her head as she turned to face him. The Kyuubi container smiled, "Alright, I'll catch ya later and thank you for letting me walk you to your umm…family owned flower shop." Naruto turned to leave but was stopped by the person he bid farewell to.

"Naruto?" Ino grabbed his arm before he could leave. The boy turned to respond but his words died in his throat when he felt a pair of soft lips on his cheek, "I should be the one thanking you for walking me here…" Naruto stood there in silence for a second as he was still surprised by the kiss but after that second was up, he spoke.

"Ino-chan, it's no problem."

"Not only that but…I'm sorry." This time Ino embraced him, placing her head in the crook of his neck. Naruto remained silent. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you back when we were smaller. I don't know I was so mean to you."

Naruto slowly wrapped his arms around her waist "Ino…"he said softly. The girl slowly removed her head from its resting place and looked up at him. "I forgave you a long time ago." He released himself from the embrace and took a step back, "Now I need to get going, I still need to pack for my mission tomorrow." With that said, he walked in the direction of his home while waving at his shocked friend? "I'll see you when I get back."

The next morning…

"Well, it looks like everyone is here." Tatsu said as he looked at his pupils. He quickly shot his attention toward the man they were responsible for, "Are you ready old man?"

Said "old man" shot an annoyed glare at the tall blonde, "I told you that my name is Tazuna! And I'm the one waiting for you guys!"

End of Chapter 16…

Well people's, here's the long awaited chapter. Sorry for the long ass wait….college and work and blah blah blah. Comment if there's any grammatical errors and what not, you know the ground rules. Stayed tune for next chapter. Ja ne!


	18. Liberation: Mission to Nami no Kuni

Hello peoples and here's the next installment to 'Savior.' I'm sorry for the loooooong wait but I've been busy for the past few months…as to what I've been busy with…that's none of your concern. Anyway, I'll be switching off between updating chapters to this story and 'My Life for Hire, so don't go thinking I'm abandoning one or the other. I thank those of you who have commented on the story thus far and please keep doing so. Now on with the show.

Chapter 17: Liberation (Mission to Nami no Kuni)

Three days. For three days Team 7 along with the old man Tazuna has been traveling to their destination of … The four ninjas were situated in a formation where Tatsu was in the front, following by Sasuke and Naruto flanking the bridge builder's sides, and finally Sakura covering the back. The whole team agreed that this was the best way of protecting their client.

"Remember; keep your eyes open for anything inconspicuous. This may be an escort mission but don't let your guard down." Tatsu addressed to his pupils. No response was heard which meant that they understood. The three Genin have come a long way since the team was formed; at first, they were dysfunctional and disorganized as all three of them had different goals in mind. That negative variable lead them to be an uncooperative team and when Tatsu administered their first real test, they failed miserably.

The test consisted of a search and capture procedure; such a test was equivalent to a low B-rank mission. The objective was to capture the blonde sensei with "any means necessary" and instead of the three coming up with a plan and working together, they chose to try to complete the objective individually.

'And that went horribly wrong for the three of them.' Tatsu thought to himself as he inwardly sighed.

_Splash_

Tatsu stopped walking which caused the others to do the same. He quickly looked down at his feet and deliberately stared at the puddle beneath him. 'That's odd…' He proceeded to look up at the sky which openly displayed its blue hue and clear skies as well as the sun which was casting its rays all across the land. He then observed his surroundings, particularly the ground surrounding the obscure mass of water. Immediately his eyes narrowed and he looked back at the puddle.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura tighten up the formation and make sure nothing gets past you." The Genin responded instantly by rotating their positions slightly so now Naruto was in front of the client while Sasuke and Sakura tightly guarded the rear. Tatsu stepped away from the puddle and elemental chakra began converging at the forefront of his arm. A small ball of condensed lightning appeared at the palm of his hand and before the blink of an eye, a bolt of lightning shot out of the body part; hitting the its target directly. What happened next made the three Genin and bridge builder go wide eyed. Chains sped out of the puddle intending on wrapping themselves around team seven's sensei. In one swift motion Tatsu caught the bare end of linked metals and strongly yanked at them. In an instant, a pair of bodies was flung out of the water and onto the ground.

"Interesting Jutsu you two used." Was Tatsu's simple statement.

Both unknown ninja jumped to their feet and reset themselves in a battle stance. "Get out of the way, we're here for the bridge builder!" One of them yelled.

All four of the Konoha nin raised their eyebrows in curiosity; Tatsu chose to speak for all of them, "And tell me why you want him exactly?"

The other nin chose to respond in a calm and dangerous tone, "That is none of your concern, now I advise you and the other three nins to leave if you value your lives."

Naruto spoke this time "I wouldn't threaten us if I were you."

Both men began to chuckle at the returned threat, "and what could a Genin such as yourselves do to us?"

"I see the two of you are missing Nins, and by the attire you're wearing the both of you are well known." The Genin's sensei retorted. "In fact, you guys made name for yourselves." He put a hand on his chin and appeared to have a thinking expression displayed on his face. "Ah I got it." He snapped his fingers and let the used hand to return to his side, "The both of you are known as Akuma no Kyōdai."

The brothers chose to respond in an assertive way and threw their respective chains toward the tall blonde. To everyone's slight surprise, the chains curved around the sensei and were rocketing toward the other blonde of the team. Naruto remained calm and in the blink of an eye caught both chains which in return proceed to wrap around his hands and arms.

Both missing Nin smirked under their masks, "Your arms are ours."

"I wouldn't speak so soon." Naruto retorted and in an instant elemental lightning incased his arms, causing the chains to conduct the element. The two rogue Nin were hit with Kami knows how many volts of electricity, causing their bodies to spasm and fall to the ground. The chains that were attached to Naruto's arms fell statically to the ground as well.

Tatsu calmly walked up to the two bodies and couldn't help but notice blood seeping from both of the Nins eyelids. He put to digits to the crease of their necks to check for a pulse and as he expected, they were both dead. Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, he slowly stood up and turned around to stare at his brother, "I guess you can say they got what they deserved."

"Now Tazuna…" Tatsu's voice became somewhat angry and accusatory, "Explain to me why we were just attacked by two class-B missing Nin."

The bridge builder began to visibly sweat, "Umm…well you see, they wanted me killed due to the project me and my employees are working on."

"And why is that?" The sensei's tone did not change.

"There's a man, his name is Gato…" Tazuna's own tone became angry and filled with malice, "Ever since he and his band of mercenaries moved into our nation, we've become poor and poverty stricken. Because of the bridge I'm currently building, it poses a threat to his operations and it will bring our nation out of the situation it's in."

Tatsu's eyes narrowed at his explanation, "As terrible as that sounds, do you understand that you put me and my team at risk. We accepted this assignment with minimal information as to what the dangers were and because of that we were unprepared." The blonde man turned his attention toward his team, "No longer is this mission considered C-rank. Due to the dangers and risks it has been moved up to A-rank and we're not prepared for this type of mission yet."

"So what are we going to do?" Sasuke asked.

"If it were up to me, we would turn back now and deem the mission incomplete, but since we're a team it's also up to you guys."

Naruto chose to speak on behalf of his teammates, "I say we should go on with the mission, if the old man's nation is in trouble then it's our duty to help him."

Sasuke looked at his teammate and smirked, "I agree with the dobe."

Sakura smiled at the younger blonde, "I'm with them; we should go on with the mission."

Tazuna's eyes slightly widened in surprise at his hired help's determination but soon enough a smile formed on his face, "Arigato, you three."

"Well, I guess it's decided." Tatsu switched his gaze toward the bridge builder, "How much longer until we reach Nami no Kuni?"

"I'd say about a couple more hours."

"Yoi (Good). Let's go."

* * *

><p>Nami no Kuni was a city that displayed poverty and disparity. As Team 7 walked the streets of the Tazuna's hometown they saw things that were undeniably disturbing. Beggars that looked like they hadn't eaten in weeks were either on the ground trying to receive some kind of currency or they were walking the streets either waiting for an opportunity to steal or already doing the action. Children were seen dressed in tattered clothes and were malnutrition, but being young they were oblivious to the disparity and unjust of the community. Houses looked run-down and shops could resemble that of a lemonade stand.<p>

"This…isn't right." Were the first words to come out of Naruto's mouth. Konoha's slums didn't really compare to the poverty of this place. Whoever did this is certainly going to pay.

"This is all Gato's doing." Tazuna said with nothing but malice and hatred in his voice.

"How long has he been situated here?" Tatsu questioned.

"For a few months now." The old man answered

"He must be person with a lot of power if he was able to do all of this in only a few months."

"We need to stop him." The younger blonde of the team said with determination.

"I know, but we can't just take him down without a plan. Once we get to the old man's house we'll start to fabricate one." Tatsu stated. "How much longer Tazuna?"

"My house is just around the corner."

In all truth Tazuna's house was indeed just around the corner. It was a small one story home that didn't necessarily look any different from the ones that they passed on route. The old bridge builder eagerly opened the door to which the other occupants of the house heard and out of what looked like the kitchen doorway came a slender woman who was dressed in a pink shirt with a red collar, along with blue silk like pants. Her hair was that of midnight blue and on her face was an expression of joy.

"You're home!"

"Yes Tsunami and I brought some friends along with me!" The old man shouted jollily as he gave the woman a hug. As both members released themselves from the embrace Tsunami glanced over Tazuna's shoulder and gave the other four occupants a questionable look.

"Ah Tsunami don't worry, these are the ninja who escorted me here."

The woman's expression instantly changed and her smile found its way upon her face. "Please come in, I'm almost finished with dinner."

Team 7 gave a nod, matching Tsunami's expression.

* * *

><p>"So the four of you are ninja of Konoha?" The blue-haired woman asked with complete interest.<p>

"We are." Tatsu responded as he shoved another load of rice in his mouth. He continued to speak after he swallowed the mouthful of food, "We came here to help your nation out with its crisis."

Tsunami smiled in appreciation, "I thank you."

"Don't worry ma'am, before you know it this Gato person will be out of your hair." Naruto all but cheered as he too shoved rice in his mouth.

The woman instantly shot her gaze toward the smaller of the two blondes, "The two of you look much alike; are you both related?"

"He's my Nii-chan." Naruto answered happily; unknowingly to him his said brother was staring at him incredulously.

'I wonder what made him so happy all of sudden.' He thought.

"This food is great Tsunami-san!"

Instantly, the older brother sweat dropped, 'Well that answers my question.' Tatsu immediately averted his gaze to his other two pupils. Sasuke situated himself opposite of Naruto's position and he was quietly eating his meal, while Sakura sat right next to him with a content expression on her face.

'Hm, she'll learn,' He sighed inwardly. Finishing off the last bite of his meal, the sapphire-eyed sensei stood up and looked at all three of his students, "All right team, hurry and finish your meal; We still have some training to get in until we call it a night."

"Hai!" all three of them responded in unison.

"Tsunami-san, do you know of any areas near-by that consists of an open field?"

Said woman nodded her head, "There's one not too far from here just beyond the forest. There's a trail behind the house that leads to it."

Tatsu offered her a smile, "Arigato."

The clearing was a beautiful sight to behold as the grass displayed its colorful green orientation. Surrounding the field were trees of the forest which acted as massive guardians, keeping a watchful eye over the people that entered their gazes. All in all, it differed from the dull display of the village the team was in beforehand.

"Ok," Tatsu snapped the Genin out of their trance and they immediately looked up at them, "I'm going to train all three of you individually as each of you have different areas to improve in." He quickly shot his gaze toward the only female of the team, "Sakura, we're going to work on your taijutsu due to it not being up to par with the rest of the team." He then looked at the last Uchiha, "Sasuke we need to work on your use of skills without using the Sharingan." Finally he shot his gaze toward his otouto, "Naruto we need to work on your use of Genjutsu as well as ways of detecting and preventing them." With a quick formation of a hand seal, two more copies of Tatsu appeared into existence with a small poof. "Sakura go with the clone to the right of me, Sasuke take the one on the left, and Naruto you come with me." The three Genin nodded and instantly went to with their respective senseis.

Hours passed before the team, excluding their sensei, found themselves exhausted. To Naruto, the Genjutsu training was pain due to its mental consequences. Some Genjutsus that his Nii-san used were easy to detect and dispel but as for the harder ones, they took their toll on his mind. As for Sakura, she couldn't really move any part of her body; the blonde sensei had taught her the basics of a style he had learned once he entered the Anbu but the basics couldn't match up with his own fully known taijutsu techniques. Even so, she had caught on to some of the attacks he was throwing at her and was able to successfully block them.

Finally there was Sasuke, thanks to Kakashi he had unlocked the Sharingan earlier than expected and when given the chance he would rely on them in battle. So to stop him from relying on them so much, his training consisted of dodging oncoming attacks and dispelling Genjutsu's just by knowing they were present. By the end of his exercise he had been worked to the bone and was now lying on the field's soft grass, panting heavily.

Tatsu, seeing his students conditions, dispelled his clones and folded his arms across his chest, "Ok everybody, that'll be all for training today. We should head back to Tsunami-san's house and rest." All three Genin groaned in agreement as they slowly picked themselves up and began to slowly walk back to their place of refuge.

The moon brightly shone itself in the night sky as everybody was seated around a table in the small living room of the bridge-builder's home. A plate of food was placed in front of each occupant of the house in which three of the five of them began eating rapidly.

Tsunami giggled a little bit, "It seems like they are very hungry; how hard did you train them?" her gaze shot toward Tatsu.

The tall blonde swallowed his mouth full of food before answering in an amused tone, "Looks like I worked them a little too hard, but then again they needed it."

"Oh?" the blue-haired woman questioned.

"The three of them had weaknesses that could become very consequential in battle, so I created two more clones and worked on them separately. Sasuke's flaw was the use of the Sharingan, in which case he became too reliant on it. So I had him dodge attacks by using instinct instead of a kekkai genkai. Sakura's weakness was her taijutsu and strength, so I taught her the basics of a style that I learned when I was in Anbu. Then I challenged her in those basics with my own full knowledge of the technique so she could build upon it based on the attacks I threw at her." Tatsu took a deep breath before continuing, "Finally there's Naruto, whose weakness was his knowledge of Genjutsu and how to detect them. I started off by placing him in the simplest of Genjutsu's which he dispelled rather quickly. Slowly I progressed to the harder ones until his mind became too unstable to focus."

"That sounds like a rather harsh training regime." Tsunami concluded.

Tatsu nodded in agreement, "It is, but in the end I know they'll grow to be more powerful than even myself."

"Arigato Tsunami-san for the dinner!" All three of the Genin yelled as they slouched back in satisfaction.

Again the woman giggled, "It was no problem you three; I'm always happy to cook for my guests."

A few minutes of silence passed before Tatsu turned his attention toward Tazuna, who did not say a word throughout the whole night, "So…old man, what are your plans for tomorrow?"

The old bridge builder stood up and looked down upon the blonde sensei's seated form, "I have to continue building my bridge." He simply answered.

"Hmm…" Tatsu agreed, "Something's bothering you though."

"Gato's men may show up; I confronted one of them earlier today, threatening me to stop this project or someone close to me may end up dead." A shadow formed over his weary eyes as Tatsu could no longer tell what he was looking at.

The sensei took this moment to stand up and place a comforting hand on the old man's shoulder while giving him a small smile, "That's why we're here Tazuna… if Gato has threatened your family then I'll have one of my students stay and protect them."

Tazuna released a saddened sigh, "How can a single Genin protect my family from a band of thugs; it would be disastrous."

Tatsu chuckled at the man's negativity, "I wouldn't underestimate my Genin Tazuna; they're more powerful than you think."

"Right…" the old man said as if he were exasperated.

"Listen, why don't you get some rest for tomorrow," the blonde said with a smile, "You have a lot of work that needs to get done and I guarantee you my students will not fail."

The bridge builder gave a small nod before he complied with the sensei's request and walked up the house's stairs to his room.

Tatsu stared at the spot Tazuna was in a little bit longer before turning around and staring directly into his brother's eyes, "Otouto, you're going to be the one to stay here and guard the family while the rest of us escort Tazuna to the bridge."

The blue-eyed boy nodded his head and what about to speak but was interrupted by the voice of a small boy, "I don't know why you guys are even trying…" he said in a low but audible voice, "You'll just get yourselves killed."

"What makes you so sure about that?" asked a curious and slightly angered Naruto.

"Because!" the boy yelled "Gato has a million men and it's only you three! You've seen what he's done to our land!" Tears began forming at the ends of his eyes, "Knowing that your home is nothing but a hole where the poorest of the poor live yet you can't do anything about it. None of you know what it feels like to be helpless!"

"Coward…" was Naruto's only response to the boy's outburst.

"What?" the kid asked.

The blonde's hair was draped over his eyes which hid his vibrant blues; his hands were clenched into fists and is posture was tense, "You're a coward!" he growled, "You talk like you've already given up. You believe your land is ruined beyond repair; you believe that nobody nor nothing can help you, and above all you believe that you're helpless. All these beliefs make you a coward." He lifted his head up and openly displayed his angered expression, "I use to be like you…I believed that I was helpless. I had to fend for myself since I was small…even younger than you; I had to find and make my own food, and I even lived in an apartment by myself with nobody to care for me. That gives me a big enough of an excuse to be helpless…but then something amazing happened." He averted his gaze from the boy to his brother and a small smile formed on his face, "My Nii-chan came into my life." He quickly darted his eyes back to the boy, "You have your jii-san and your kaa-san here to care for you yet you sit there and think you're on your own…" he scoffed before he turned around and walked toward the front door; grabbing the handle he pulled it down and opened it but before he walked out, he turned around and gave on last statement, "Grow up…"

After that he was gone.

Tatsu released a small sigh, "I'll go get hi-"

"I'll do it sensei." Sakura cut him off before standing up and leaving the house in search for the young blonde.

The sensei could only run his hand through his hair as he eyed the boy that was the instigator of Naruto's outburst, "You know kid…he's right, you need to stop living in fear and pain and start defending those that you hold dear." With that said he walked to his room for some sleep followed by his only remaining student.

The kid, with tears still leaking from his eyes, ran to his room of the house with his mind bare of any thoughts.

* * *

><p>Naruto found himself walking toward the center of town where the unfinished yet magnificent bridge could be seen due to it being illuminated by surrounding lights. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his mind relayed sorrowful thoughts of his past that could not be forgotten. He understood that the young kid had been through a lot…hell if you looked him in the eye you could see the pain within his soul, for as cheesy as that sounds. Even so, his words were still irritating and annoying.<p>

'But then again that's another reason why this tyranny should end.' The blonde thought.

"**Naru-kun…" **Kyuubi called out his name in a worried tone.

'Kyu-chan, if I'm thinking what you're thinking then it's not your fault. You weren't you when you were attacking the village nor did you have a choice in being trapped within me. If anything it's my fault; I should have stood up for myself.'

"**How could you when you didn't know any better?"**

He released a small, almost inaudible sigh, 'I don't know, I could have actually tried to figure out why the villagers would do what they did to me but I acted helpless…and helpless is something that I hate being.'

"Naruto!" a voice shouted a few yards behind the blonde, who in act stopped his walking and turned around. His eyes widen a bit at seeing Sakura running toward him with a worried expression on her face.

"Hey Sakura." Was his only response, along with a small wave of the hand.

When the pinkette finally caught up to the male teen she stopped only a few inches in front of him, "Are you ok?" she asked with her tone still laced with worry.

He gave a small practiced smile, "I am; I just needed to get out of there before I said something I may have regretted later."

The jade-eyed girl gave a small frown upon seeing the smile and how it did not match the emotions that were openly dancing within his eyes, "Something else is bothering you," she stated, "You can tell me Naruto, you know I'm here for you."

He chuckled a little and took his hands out of his pockets, only to place them behind his head, "I'm serious Sakura, I'm fine…like I said before I just needed some fresh air."

"Naruto…please don't lie to me." She said in pleading manner. "I know you're trying to hide your pain so others won't worry, but sometimes you need to vent your emotions to those whom you can trust."

Again the blonde released a small chuckle and plastered another artificial smile on his face, "Sakura it's nothing, really…"

The pinkettes brows furrowed in slight frustration, "Stop being a baka!" That little outburst caught the blue-eyed teen off guard and his face displayed a shocked expression, "Stop acting like you're always alone! You're being a hypocrite and you think that no one can help you with your problems!"

"Sakura…" his shocked expression was now gone and a soft smile took its place, "It's not that I'm acting like I'm alone, I just don't want to burden any of my precious people with my problems. I need to handle them on my own like I always have."

"Then you're being selfish…" she responded in a low, frustrated, and saddened tone. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, "Handling your problems on your own won't solve anything…"

The blonde closed what little distance the two of them had between each other and wrapped his arms around his comrades frame, "It has in the past, and even if I were to tell you how can you possibly understand what I've been through? It would be hard for you to help me if you can't comprehend my suffering and in the end, we would have taken a few steps backwards rather than forward."

The pinkette wrapped her arms around his larger frame and rested her head on his chest, "How do you know that? Have you ever tried to talk to somebody about the trials of your past?"

"No, because I know the person would not understand."

"Then make me understand," she pleaded, "I want to help shoulder your pain." She almost demanded as a few of her tears fell to the ground.

"You are shouldering my pain just by being here right now, with me." Naruto said as his eyes closed while tightening the embrace. In return the kunoichi did the same and buried her head within his chest. The both of them didn't know how long they stayed like that but when they finally let go of each other they relayed a genuine smile to one another.

"We should head back to Tsunami-san's house." Sakura said as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

Naruto nodded his head in agreement, "You're right, we have to be ready for tomorrow." With that said both genin began the trek back to they're temporary home.

* * *

><p>Morning was here, Naruto new it as rays from the sun shone through the window of his temporal room. But that wasn't what woke him up, voices from downstairs could be heard and from the sound of it there were three voices that he couldn't recognize. Swiftly getting out of his bed he threw his normal ninja attire on and quietly walked down the stairs, only to stop midway down the steps to see three uninvited guest holding the boy from last night hostage. Tsunami was found on the opposite side of the area with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.<p>

'Judging from what the old man said last night, these are probably Gato's men.' The blonde concluded. Said people were threatening to take the small boy's life if Tsunami did not come with them, 'An act of a coward.' He thought with a low, quiet growl escaping his lips. Sighing slightly, he performed a few hand signs before whispering, "Kawarimi no jutsu (Substitution jutsu)."

"What the hell!" the hostage holder yelled as a puff of smoke covered his body and instead of the small boy being in his tight grasp, there was a scowling blonde who took his place. Before the man could even react, the blue-eyed teen had already formed a small ball within his right hand and with excessive forced, he plunged said object right into the merc's stomach. This action caused the man to completely lose his grip on the teen and he went flying backwards into the homes nearest wall. The blonde quickly turned to his left and threw an accurate punch at one of the two remaining men which connected and sent him flying into the same wall as the previous victim. Finally, he performed a sweep kick on the remaining mercenary which caused said person to trip into the air. Reacting quickly, Naruto lifted his arm at an angle and brought his palm down upon the man's chest, causing the person to slam into the ground which created a fairly large indent on the household floor.

Seeing that his work was done, the jinchuuriki turned around to face Tsunami who was holding her son within a tight embrace, "I'm guessing my team is already at the bridge with the old man?"

The blue-haired woman shot her gaze toward the blonde and nodded, "They left not too long ago, but if I were to guess I would say they're already there by now."

Naruto chose to release a sight at the required information, "Right…I'll tie these guys up and then I'll leave for the bridge. You two stay here and remain hidden until we return." Both the woman and child nodded their heads in confirmation and watched as the teen tied the intruders up before leaving to regroup with his team.

* * *

><p>"So…who are you?" Tatsu asked as he narrowly dodged a swift and deadly swipe from a very large sword. 'More like a giant cleaver.'<p>

The mysterious ninja that had missed his strike jumped backwards and landed a safe distance away from his opponent. "Me? I'm your worst nightmare." He simply said while going through a series of hand signs, "Kiragakure no Jutsu! (Hidden Mist Technique)." The area in which both were battling in quickly became covered in a thick blanket of mist.

'This mist is thick…so much so that I can't even see what's directly in front of me.' Taking a slow and calming breath, the tall blonde closed his eyes and sent pulses of chakra throughout the area of battle. Smiling slightly, he quickly ducked under a horizontal swipe from behind while lightning began dancing around his left arm, "Raiton: Raitoningugan (Lightning Style: Lightning Gun)!" Pointing his pointer finger in the direction of the swipe, a bolt of lightning shot out of the appendage only for it to go sailing out of the area. This left the obvious indication that the attack had missed its target.

"Kuso (dammit)…" the blonde said in frustration. Standing up from his crouched position he once again closed his eyes to focus in on his opponent's chakra signature. He stepped to the left and avoided a vertical strike that was meant to cleave him in half and then ducked under another horizontal strike. "You know…this isn't really a fair fight." He chose to poor chakra into his legs and jumped vertically up into the air to escape his opponent's jutsu. Quickly he performed hand signs with the intention on hitting the mysterious assailant, "Raiton (Lightning Style)…" placing his right hand above his head, a small ball of lightning began to form in his palm, "Raikyuu (Lightning Ball)…" The ball within his hand began, though not expanding, to become sporadic with bolts of lightning crashing into it.

Violently, Tatsu threw his attack at the area where the mist was most prominent and on impact the ball created a radial explosion of electricity which completely covered the radius of his opponent's jutsu.

The blonde sensei gracefully landed on the ground, only a few feet away from where his attack had landed. 'The thick mist has disappeared but where is he?'

"That's a nice jutsu you have there." A voice complimented from behind him. "Too bad it missed and too bad you have to die." With a slight chuckle the man brought his weapon down on his enemies head, but to his slight surprise and shock the blonde had disappeared in a flash before the blade could even make contact. "Clever trick…"

"I wouldn't say it's a trick, but a very useful jutsu." The sword wielder slowly turned around and found his blonde opponent facing him with natures lightning dancing around his arms. "As I said before, this isn't really a fair fight…you have a giant cleaver while I have my fists and kunai." The force of nature encasing his arms suddenly formed down at his hands in the form of lengthy blades. "Raiton: Saanda Saaburu (Lighting Style: Thunder Saber)." The tips of the makeshift blades touched the ground and caused palm sized craters to form beneath them. "I think this should even the fight." The blonde quickly disappeared in a flash and reappeared right in front of his opponent with a readied vertical strike using the blade in his right hand. The half-masked man brought up his large blade for defense but once both blades made contact he was sent flying backwards causing his feet to slightly raise off the ground.

Regaining his posture the sword wielder chuckled a bit, "Again and again you seem to surprise me."

"I'm glad I'm able to do that." Tatsu said with the sternest look on his face.

The man smirked beneath his mask, "I see, if those blades touch anything they cause an explosive impact."

The blonde's lips slightly curved upward, "That's a good analysis…" the small smirk immediately turned into a frown, "You still haven't told me who you are."

Once again his enemy chuckled, "I go by a couple names…one being Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)."

Tatsu's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before returning back to their original state, "I remember hearing about you…you're a part of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist)." The sensei looked up toward the sky for only a few seconds before looking back down at his opponent, "Your real name is Zabuza Momochi."

"I'm flattered that you know so much about me." Zabuza mocked as he rested his large sword on his shoulder.

"How could I not? You did kill Konoha ninja and your name became imprinted in our bingo book." The blonde explained nonchalantly.

"Are you done talking yet?" the sword wielder questioned with impatience, "I would like to get on with our fight."

Tatsu only shook his and released a quiet sigh, "If you say so, but now that I know who you are I need to take you out."

Zabuza, in response to his declaration, full out laughed, "Let's see if you can kid." With that being his last sentence he quickly charged the blonde with great speed. Once in front of his opponent he brought his sword down at a diagonal angle to which the blue-eyed male sidestepped and swung his blade horizontally. With Tatsu's blade hitting the cleaver at an angle, the impact caused Zabuza to lose his grip on his weapon causing the large blade to be flung to the ground a few feet away from the both of them. The swordsmen quickly back flipped into the air and landed a decent distance away from his enemy. He quickly went through hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet)." A large dragon made of the element relayed within the name of the jutsu soared toward its intended target at neck-breaking speed.

Tatsu hastily dodged to the left causing the attack to miss, only for it to redirect and head toward him again. Disbanding the swords from his hands, he himself went through a series of hand seals "Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb)!" A large stream of hot fire shot from his mouth and intercepted the opposing jutsu causing both techniques to dissipate and turn into a large cloud of steam. The cloud created by the interaction of both attacks caused both of the male's visibility to diminish.

"You're probably the toughest opponent I've had thus far…." Came the voice of Zabuza from somewhere within the cloud of steam.

"Unfortunately," the blonde started, "I can't say the same about you."

The swordsman laughed a bit before responding, "I wonder how Haku is handling your students."

"I'm sure they're not having that much trouble with…him?...her?" Tatsu at first chuckled but then questioned himself toward the end of his sentence.

* * *

><p>"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)!" Sasuke yelled as a grand fireball shout from his mouth and sped toward the person known as Haku. The masked nin dodged the attack and through senbon as a counterattack. The thin needles narrowly missed their target as the Sharingan wielder jumped out of the way and proceeded to follow up with the same jutsu he just used. The flaming ball once again made its way toward Haku, who in turn dodged once again, but was met by Sakura's fist. The contact caused the nin to go flying in the opposite direction of which heshe dodged.

Skidding on the ground, Haku finally came to a stop a good distance away from the duo. Her porcelain mask had formed a large crack down the middle of it due to the force of the impact. Slowly, he…er…she stood up and removed the damaged accessory from his/her face. "Impressive…" the unmasked unknown complimented, "your sensei trained you well."

The pinkette and the Uchiha did not respond, instead they charged at their opponent. Right when the both of them were about to connect with a punch, the nin disappeared without a trace. Both Genin's eyes widened a bit and only continued to do so when strange mirrors started to form around them.

Instantly, Sasuke resorted to his Sharingan while Sakura readied herself in her self-taught taijutsu stance. The mirrors continued to form until both the Konoha nin were surrounded by the objects; top to bottom, left to right, front to back…there was no clear escape from whatever type of jutsu had just formed.

Due to their current situation, Sasuke began to panick, 'What the hell is this?' Without warning a thin senbon implanted itself within his shoulder causing him to mildly grunt in pain. Before the Uchiha could began to process what happened, another senbon implanted itself in his opposing shoulder and yet again did he release another grunt of pain. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he quickly went through a few hand signs, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

The large fireball made its way toward one of the mirrors with the assumption that the enemy was somehow within the object. The flaming orb made contact with the mirror and successfully melted the obstacle, but to both of the Konoha nin's dismay the mirror immediately reformed, thus again blocking a possible escape route.

"Kawirimi no Justu!" Came a loud yell from outside the deadly dome and in an instant Sakura's body erupted in a cloud of smoke. Both parties within the death trap stared in anticipation, waiting for the smoke to clear to see what happened to the pink-haired occupant. To both of their surprise, a blonde-haired Genin appeared with a serious expression upon his face.

He immediately began to speak through the transparent smoke, "Sasuke, use your Sharingan to focus on the set of mirrors behind me."

Sasuke only nodded before he did as he was told.

Naruto had his back turned from his teammate and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the set of mirrors before him. Taking out a few kunai from his weapons pouch he threw them toward the ice made objects. Immediately after they were thrown a few senbon imbedded themselves within his right arm, causing the appendage to become somewhat useless.

'Kyu-chan…'

"**I'm already working on it." **Came the beings voice as her chakra caused the weapons to slide out of the blonde's skin and the injury left from the objects to close off and heal.

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit as he saw his enemy move in midair to the next available mirror. Noting the information as an important thought he let a smirk spread across his face, "Hey dobe…" he whispered.

"What?" the blue-eyed teen asked in a calm, quieted voice.

"Our enemy is physically moving from mirror to mirror after she attacks." The only reply he got from the blonde was a short chuckle and in response to such a response his brows furrowed, "You already knew that didn't you?"

"Would you be mad if I said yes?" he asked in amusement.

"Whatever…" Sasuke widened his stance a bit and wen t through a few handsigns, " Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Once again a fireball launched from his mouth and was heading straight for the mirror that his enemy was taking shelter in.

Said persons breath hitched a bit before he/she? phased out of the recently occupied mirror and threw senbon at…his/her enemy. The masked nin's weapons hit their intended target but before she could phase into the safety of her jutsu he/she felt an incredible force hit his/her's face.

Naruto, with enhanced vision due to Kyuubi's influence, saw his target and imbued chakra within his right fist. With a nice, well timed lunge, he jumped in the air and intercepted the nin with a punch to the face, causing his/her head to reel upwards with his/her body following suit.

The dome of mirrors began to melt and dissipate as the victim of the single attack began to descend from flight and only did the jutsu completely disperse when the creator's body hit the floor with a loud thump.

* * *

><p>"It seems like your disciple failed to eliminate my students." Tatsu said with a satisfied tone as he looked behind himself just in time to see the enemy hunter nin fall to the ground from flight.<p>

An audible growl was heard from his opponent, "That still doesn't mean that I won't kill you."

With breakneck speed, Zabuza lunged forward and thrust his large cleaver in a stabbing motion. In response, the blonde sensei leapt backwards and retaliated with a lunge of his own, the two lengthy blades forming within his hands once again. With a diagonal strike, Tatsu struck Zabuza's blade with practiced grace as the Kiri nin brought up the gargantuan weapon in defense. He was sent reeling backwards and his body crashed into the railing of the unfinished bridge before he caught his body from falling completely to the ground with his hands. Lifting his head up slightly, Zabuza focused his vision on the spot where the blonde enigma…once was.

'Where the hell did he-'

"I would surrender if I was you; your life isn't worth ending." Came the voice of the man he was looking for; the makeshift blade of his enemy only a few inches from his neck while the second blade rested in his hand, which was at his side.

A low, almost amused chuckle came from his mouth, "You take me too lightly." Was all he said.

With his eyes narrowing, Tatsu ducked under a horizontal swing that came from a bunshin stationed behind him. Flipping the unused blade in his hand so that now the grip was reversed, he thrust the object into his attacker causing said person to transform into a puddle of water, signifying that the clone was neutralized. This whole action happened with the blonde never taking his eyes off of his true opponent.

"You and I both know that Gato won't own up to his part of the bargain." The blonde stated with clarity in his voice. "As to why you even let him hire you is beyond me."

Chuckling once again, the Kiri nin responded, "I knew that from the start. But at the time he was my only source of income."

"So you brought misery upon the people of Nami no Kuni just because the pay was good…" the sensei questioned with a small but fury filled growl.

"My intentions for bringing this country to its knees has nothing to do with greed." Zabuza stated in a neutral tone.

"Then why!" the blonde almost yelled as he inched the blade closer to his enemies neck.

The Demon did not respond, and kept quiet. Tatsu sighed in exasperation as he stayed the threatening blade from his enemies vital point, "Gato's men are just beyond the distance," he said as he averted his gaze toward the end of the bridge. A large group of people could be seen walking toward the battle sight with different assortments of weapons in hand. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked back down at his subdued opponent with a questioning but serious gaze, "You have two options as of right now…" he started, "One we can continue this fight with the interference of the people that are approaching, or two…we can put it on hold and focus our attention on more important matters at hand." Letting one sword dissipate from his hand, the blonde offered the Kiri nin said appendage, "What do you say?"

Smacking his hand away, Zabuza pulled himself up and allowed a small smirk to form behind his mask, "Don't think that we're allies because of this…" he said as he collected his fallen weapon and held it at his side with a single hand.

"I wasn't counting on it." The sensei responded with a smirk of his own forming on his face. "We better call off the battle between my students and your partner, ne?"

Zabuza chose to shrug his shoulders at the question, "Does it matter?"

"At the moment…yes…yes it does." He deadpanned.

* * *

><p>Sakura found herself staring in awe as the dome she was in began to disappear before her eyes. That only gave the assumption that her teammates defeated the seemingly tough nin and she was relieved to see the two boys standing in the middle of their battle zone with the enemy lying beneath them. Releasing a breath she didn't she was holding, she walked over to her comrades and stood before them with a relieved expression on her face.<p>

"I'm glad the both of you are ok." She stated as she subconsciously looked over the boys for any injuries. Naruto, to her surprise, had not a single scratch on him though small yet visible holes could be seen on the blondes torso wear. Sasuke on the other hand had a few senbon imbedded within his skin and she quickly pulled him aside (to his reluctance) to treat his wounds. She carefully removed the used weapons from his torso and put her hands on the injuries in an attempt to heal them, which was proven successful.

"Sakura…" Said girl looked up from her kneeling position and stared directly into Naruto's blue eyes, "I need you to check the hunter nins vital signs and see if…" the blonde's face contorted into confusion, was there enemy a he or a she? He stole a quick glance at the prone body of his enemy and by the features upon the nins face….she looked feminine. "Can you check to see if she's still alive…she did fall from a tremendous height and landed headfirst onto the ground."

Nodding her head, the pinkette stood up from her previous position and walked over to the prone form. Placing her hands on the nins body, a green glow surrounded her palms and fingers and only after a few seconds did she come up with a diagnosis, "she's still alive but her pulse is barely noticeable and her heartbeat is rugged."

"Can you heal her?"

"What!"

"Can you heal her?" the blonde asked again in a soft tone,

Sakura looked at her teammate with shock and confusion upon her features. She quickly glanced over at her other teammate whom only mirrored her expression.

"Why would we want to heal…her?" the pinkette asked in a confused tone, "She's our enemy."

"I know that," the blue-eyed teen responded, "but the senbon she threw…she wasn't aiming to kill us."

"And how do you know that?" Sasuke asked in an irritated tone.

"The senbon that were able to hit us were meant to subdue the appendages that they were lodged into…not only that but they were meant to fatigue us, eventually causing us to pass out due to exhaustion," the blonde released a short sigh before continuing, "Sasuke, didn't you find it hard to use your arms and hands to perform the katon jutsu you used only a few seconds ago?"

Without hesitation, the Uchiha answered his question, "Yea…"

"And which appendages on your body were the senbon attached to?"

"My arms and…hands." The charcoal eye teen stated in realization but such an expression quickly turned into a scowl, "How do you know her nonlethal attacks weren't used in order to make killing us a simpler task?"

"Because you would have been dead before I entered the fight."

Sasuke's scowl slowly disappeared from his face and a neutral expression was set in tone. In all reality, the blonde was right. His body was at the brink of becoming useless and there was no doubt that the hunter nin would have finished him off even before his 'teammate' had entered the fight. Slowly, the Sharingan user stood from his seated position and crossed his arms just below his chest.

Before anymore words could be said the Genin's sensei appeared before them with a look of seriousness upon his face. "We have a new objective at hand…"

"What is it Nii-san?" Naruto asked, his tone matching his brothers.

"Gatō and his men are approaching our position and I need you three to help neutralize them." The three Genin nodded in compliance, with no intention on questioning there sensei's orders. "Naruto, summon a few Kage Bunshin to guard our friend's," he pointed at the hunter nin, "unconscious form."

The younger blonde nodded and formed the necessary hand sign. Before their eyes, three more Naruto's poofed into existence with their objective already in mind. Without hesitation, they surrounded the unconscious nin in a triangular formation with kunai at the ready.

Satisfied with the results, Tatsu disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before the three Genin could do the same, Naruto turned to Sakura and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, "I need you to stay back and heal her," he pointed at the prone form beside them, "to the best of your abilities."

"Naruto I-"

"Please, Sakura-chan."

Sakura avoided his gaze and looked at the prone form of their enemy. There was a sense of desperation in the blonde's voice that didn't go unnoticed by her. With reluctance, the pinkette nodded and kneeled down, over their enemy's body, and began doing as she was told.

* * *

><p>Mercenaries…as far as he could tell, all the men in front him were mercenaries, not ninja. Tatsu chose to chuckle at this fact; this made subduing all of them that much easier. Well…subduing wouldn't be the correct term in what was to come…the end result of the battle ensuing soon would end with all of them dead…including the tyrant that brought this land to its knees.<p>

"So the great Zabuza Momochi couldn't complete the simple task of killing the bridge builder?" Gatō asked with sarcasm laced in every single word he said. Out of all the men present he was the shortest and he was clad in a black suit with a tannish brown undershirt. Tied onto the collar of the shirt was a purple tie to offset the color of the undershirt.

Zabuza answered the question with low growl, "You should drop the sarcasm you old fool; it'll do you no good."

The aged man let out a boisterous laugh, "Such an idle threat; I actually should be thanking you for giving me the chance of killing the man myself, along with you and those pathetic ninja."

Tatsu let a low chuckle escape his lips, "That's a lot of talk coming from a man such as yourself," the amusement disappeared from his face and in its place was a cold, calculating stare. Before everybody's eyes, the tall blonde disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind Gatō and his group of mercenaries. He slowly raised an open palm at his enemies as lighting began to dance around the appendage, "Raiton: Shinigami Boruto (Lightning Style: Reaper Bolt)."

In the blink of an eye, a few bodies within the crowd of hired men fell to the floor with their heads missing from their bodies. The remaining mercs turned around to witness such an event happen and a look of horror was etched on every single one of their faces. A few more bodies hit the floor soon after as gashes could be seen on them. Naruto appeared right next to his sensei and Nii-san with his hands incased in elemental wind.

Now sweating bullets, Gatō shook his head before he yelled a simple command, "Kill them; kill them all!" As soon as those words left his mouth the remaining number of hired hands charged in all directions, intent on killing their enemies.

Ducking under a swipe from a bladed weapon, Sasuske countered with a kick to the man's ribcage causing his body to bend abnormally due to the power behind the attack. The merc fell to the ground grasping his side in pain. Another man came from behind the Uchiha and swung his weapon at an angle, causing the Genin into a forced sidestep. Following up with his dodge, Sasuke kicked the man in the calf forcing that leg to bend giving him the opportunity to swing his leg in a heightened roundhouse kick to the face. The attack sent the hired gun staggering back a few feet, but the Genin didn't stop there as he appeared above the man and brought down a powerful axe kick that sent him face first onto the concrete pavement. An instant crunch noise was heard, specifying that the man's nose more than likely broke along with his jaw.

Going through a few hand signs, Sasuke let loose and all too familiar attack, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." The large fireball engulfed the remaining enemies that were charging him and with a satisfied smirk he converged in on the battle happening between his sensei and the other mercenaries.

* * *

><p>Sakura caught her enemies hand and brought her free fisted hand to his face sending him flying backwards and off the bridge. Avoiding a swipe from another merc, the pinkette infused chakra within her foot and kicked the man straight in the kneecap, causing the man to scream out in pain as the bone broke within that ligament and broke the skin. He toppled over onto the ground with his injured leg bent abnormally at an excruciating angle.<p>

Two more men came running at her and without hesitation she charged at them as well. In one swift motion she slid on the ground with one foot outward while the other was bent. Her foot made contact with one of the man's legs causing him to trip forward and ensue flight. This resulted in his whole body to flip upside down giving Sakura the opportunity to punch him in the gut…which she took. The Airborne man was sent flying into his comrade, knocking the both of them out as soon as they hit the ground.

Turning around, the pinkette narrowly avoided a wakizashi and sent an opened palm strike, which was infused with chakra, to the assailants face causing his nose to shatter. The man's body fell limp to the ground, as the fragments from the broken bone pierced his brain.

'So much for staying out of the battle.'

Staring down at the body with a saddened look on her face, she retreated back to the prone body that still lay unconscious from their previous fight.

* * *

><p>'Three down…' Naruto thought to himself as the person he just killed fell slump to the ground with multiple gashes upon his torso and legs. To further emphasize the fatalness of the injuries, blood began pooling from beneath the dead man's body. How he received these injuries is quite simple, Naruto's hands were still incased in elemental chakra and such element took the form of a long, eccentric blade. The man had sluggishly charged the teen with the intent to kill and all it took was a simple side step from a diagonal slash and a counterattack to kill him.<p>

This time, instead of one mercenary charging the Jinchuuriki, five did and in one quick dash Naruto swung his bladed hands with precision at their bodies. Each merc yelled in agony as blood immediately spewed forth from the fatal wounds that appeared on their bodies after the blonde was finished with his attack. Only after a few seconds of those screams did his enemies fall to the ground, dead.

One last opponent remained for the teen and not even giving the man to think he rapidly flashed through a few hand signs before slamming his lightning encased hand to the ground, "Raivu Waiya: Senkou (Live Wire: Flash) a visible line of electricity bolted forth from his hand and toward his target. The mercenary didn't even have time to react due to the speed of the attack and he was immediately electrocuted to the point where his skin became charred. The mercs body fell forward and hit the ground with a soft "thump." Though the man was still alive the agony that his entire body was experiencing became too much and the screams that once filled his lungs went silent as he passed out.

Looking around, Naruto patted himself down of imaginary dust, "I guess that takes care of that," he said nonchalantly. Spotting Gatō, who had backed away from the battle to a more…discreet position on the bridge, the blonde walked toward him with a deep frown upon his face.

'What a coward.' He thought off-handedly.

Gatō could only look on with horror as his entire platoon of mercenaries was neutralized with ease. A sudden fear and realization swept over the corrupt business man; he knew he wasn't going to make out of here alive. Making such realization more pronounce, a shorter version of the blonde haired sensei he met beforehand appeared right in front of him with a kunai at the ready. Gatō jumped in fear and tried to move further away from his soon to be killer but his back met the barred railing of the bridges structure.

"You…" the Genin started, "You've brought misery upon this village at an unimaginable scale and such tyranny doesn't go unpunished," his current frown deepened and his eyes narrowed in disgust, "Do you know what you've done to this nation and its people?" when no answer was given the blonde continued, "You've robbed them of a normal and happy life for your own self gain."

Visible sweat could be seen falling down the man's face and the pupils of his eyes became sporadic with fear. "Wait, please…I-I can give you whatever you want whether it be money or power, just l-let me go free."

The blonde teen scowled in anger, "You think I would want anything from you after what you've done to innocent people?" he raised the kunai in hand to shoulder height, "What you deserve isn't a quick death, you deserve far worse than that…" and with one swing the man before him hit the ground.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto put the used kunai within his leg pouch and turned around to see the platoon of mercenaries either dead or mortally wounded. Almost instantly did Tatsu appear at his side with most of his attire covered in the red life fluids of the human body.

The blonde sensei gazed at the unconscious form that lay before him with a blank stare, "What did you do to him?"

The man's brother let a small smile form on his lips, "I knocked him out with the blunt end of the kunai; I figured it isn't our right to judge a man that hasn't affected our lives as much as the people of Nami no Kuni."

Tatsu mirrored his expression upon hearing the answer, "Well done otouto," he complimented before changing the subject, "We've defeated the remaining mercenaries, make sure the old midget remains in the state he's in while we clean up after our own mess. Once that's done, we'll gather the townspeople and let them decide this man's fate."

End of Chapter 17

Here you guys go and I again apologize for the long wait for this chapter, I hope the length of it made up for the wait but I do think I rushed it. So please if you have any concerns or what not with the chapter or the story as a whole feel free to comment on it. As far as the harem for Naruto, the next chapter and such will start to introduce the girls that will be involved in it. The next chapter, though I haven't started it yet, will be up fairly soon…I hope. Anyways till next time this is KotovSyndrome, signing off.


	19. Doubt

Hello folks and here's the next chapter to Savior. I want to thank all those people who favorited or added this story to their 'follow' list; you ladies and gents are the drive for this story and I greatly appreciate your support. Also, my inspiration for typing…er writing…or whatever has hit me like a high velocity water balloon to the face so I'll be typing as much as I can though that really won't emphasize my point if I'm updating this story once every month. Anyways, on with the story.

I don't own Naruto or any of the characters involved with the story…

Chapter 18: Doubt

Naruto let out a small sigh as he gazed at the village that lay down below; the place he called home. It looked rather beautiful, with the sun's rays making the buildings and small shops more detailed than what they originally were. All in all, Konohagakure resembled that of a Utopia.

"Yea…a Utopia" the blonde whispered to himself; his tone sounded melancholic.

"**Naru-kun? What's wrong?" **the being within his mind questioned with worry.

From his seated position, Naruto let his back rest on the Monument's soft grass, 'It's nothing Kyu-chan…I'm just tired.'

"**If you think I'm going to fall for an excuse like that…" **

He chuckled a bit before replying, 'Ok, ok…I think you know that when I was growing up, I always thought that this place, this village…was perfect. Besides what happened to me, like the beatings and what not, I vowed that I would protect this place with my life.' He closed his eyes and allowed a frown to form on his face, 'But now…I can't help but think, maybe this place isn't worth protecting.'

"**You're thinking of the man's words again, aren't you?" **she asked in a small albeit calm voice.

'Yea…' came the simple reply. Suddenly, he stiffened as a new and familiar presence made itself known throughout the area.

"I knew I would find you here."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto quickly stood up and faced the man that had haunted his thoughts ever since he first met him. "What are you doing here?" the blonde asked menacingly.

The hooded man did not move but a small, sinister smile played on his lips, "I came here to congratulate you on completing your first A-ranked mission." Slowly, he began to walk toward the recipient of his words.

Naruto clenched his fists in anger, "Don't come near; stay where you are."

The man did not listen as he continued to carry on with agonizingly slow steps, "There's no need to be unfriendly." He released a low chuckle, "All those men you killed during your mission is quite impressive, especially for a Genin." A small frown then formed on the uncovered part of his face, "But I am disappointed in your choice to spare that corrupt businessman."

The blonde teen clenched his teeth, "It wasn't my choice to decide his fate."

"But you knew that his death would have freed those whom were the victims of his wrath." The man said as if he were berating a small child, "Because of what you did, he lives to see another day."

"So what!?" Naruto all but yelled back. The cloaked man fazed out of existence and reappeared right in front of the blonde with his hand already gripping the teen's throat.

"Because of your foolish decision, he will continue where he left off and will be most likely seeking vengeance against the ones who ruined him." He said in a disappointed tone. He slowly lifted the blonde off his feet and held him up in mid-air. "You think the deed you did was right? You think you gave those insolent fools of Wave hope?"

"Why do you care?" The Jinchuuriki asked in a painfully strained voice, "I don't care if my…(cough)…If my decision was right or wrong, it was not my right to judge him!"

"Then you are truly naïve!" the man yelled as he tightened his grip around Naruto's throat, "It does not matter if it was your right to judge him or not. His death was necessary; he was scum that needed to die!" Without hesitance he walked to the cliffs edge where the previous Kage's faces were engraved into the monuments mountainside and hung the boy within his hands over open air. "Playing hero and going down the 'righteous' path will get you nowhere in the Shinobi world. Decisions such as yours will not halt the endless cycle of hatred and you will come to find that out soon enough."

Naruto's eyes widened at his words but his features remained angered, "What are you talking about!?"

Upon hearing the question, the man's mouth formed into a thin line, "Peace." Was his simple answer, "Peace cannot be obtained through such foolish choices as yours. Gatō will continue his business and reclaim what he has lost, thus continuing such misery within this world. Hatred will be born from his plight and therefore will be never ending until he is dead."

The blonde shot both of his arms up and grasped the arm that held the hand grasping his throat, "If he does rebuild his business he'll be stopped again!" He let free a few coughs before continuing, "No matter how many times he rebuilds his empire he will be stopped!"

"Then you are as stupid as I thought." He instantly threw the blonde behind him, causing the blue-eyed teen to land on the ground with a harsh "thud."

Naruto immediately regained his composure and threw kunai at his enemy. Before the sharp objects could make contact, the man's body shifted forward and to the left which looked like an illusion of sorts. The kunai undoubtedly missed and flew off the edge of the cliff. Following up with his first attack, Naruto appeared in front of the man with a makeshift blade consisting of wind within his left hand. He jabbed his creation forward in an attempt to pierce the hooded figures heart, but before the blade could even touch his skin he shot a hand forward and caught the blonde's wrist. Clenching his teeth once again the teen formed a ball of chakra in his free hand and initiated his second attack. The man instantly let go of the bladed hand and kicked the blonde straight in his mid-section. The force of the attack caused the Genin to fly backwards a good distance before skidding on the ground and finally coming to a stop near a walked on path that was used to climb up and descend down the monument.

Naruto coughed and wheezed while slowly picking himself up from the ground. "Arghh…" he groaned as a small sliver of red liquid ran out of his mouth and down his chin.

"**Naru-Kun, you have to run; he's too powerful" **Kyu-chan replied with worry laced within her voice.

'I…ok.' He replied and as he turned to run the man was already blocking his path.

"Kaze no sōsa (Wind Manipulation)?" he said in an appraising voice. Raising his hands he began to clap loudly, "Well done, to be able to manipulate an element at such a young age is impressive."

Choosing not to speak, Naruto applied chakra to his legs and feet. Bending his knees, he proceeded to jump causing the floor beneath him to become concave in shape. Just before his body could reach its expected height a hand firmly grasped his ankle. The unknown man immediately threw him back down to ground level causing the blondes back to smack off the ground painfully.

'Kuso…' Naruto grunted mentally, 'What can I do? As of right now my only option is to fight.'

"Understand this boy; your knowledge of the world is small and incompetent." The man said in a menacing tone, "The only way you can comprehend what's happening around you is to experience it." He proceeded to turn his back on his victim, "The time will come when you realize the choices you make will only bring pain and suffering unto yourself and the world." With that being his finally statement, the mysterious being disappeared with no evidence of his existence being known.

Unmoving, Naruto stood in silence with his hung low causing his hair to cast a shadow over his eyes. His hands weren't clenched but open-palmed at his sides and his mouth was formed into a thin line. His mind was running a million miles per hour as it was trying to comprehend the words that were planted within his conscience.

"**Naru-kun…"** Once again the being's voice was laced with worry, **"Head home and rest."**

With a small nod the blonde began to trudge down the dirt path with his hands deep in his pockets.

* * *

><p>"So they let him go?" Tatsu nodded in answer of the question, "This may cause future problems for other nations, especially if he re-establishes his business."<p>

"I know that Jii-san, but Naruto made the decision to let him live and I'm proud of him for that." The Jinchuuriki's older brother said earnestly.

"How was the team as a whole?" The Kage asked with interest.

"They communicated with each other and were able to dispatch multiple enemies in doing such. Because of their teamwork the mission was a success and little to no problems effected our assignment."

The old man took a puff out of his pipe and spun around in his chair to look down at the city below, "Good." Was all he said. Taking another puff out of the smoke device he began to speak again, "As you know, the Chunnin exams are only a few months away and by what you've just told me I think your team is more than ready for them."

"I believe so as well." Tatsu agreed as he put both of his hands behind his head.

"In any case make sure to register them."

"Understood." The blonde stated bluntly and turned to leave.

"One more thing." Tatsu stopped himself from leaving and turned back around to face his surrogate grandfather, "I have a mission specifically for you."

His brow rose at that, "What kind of mission?"

"An infiltration mission. As to my knowledge a new, prosperous village has made itself known far beyond our borders." The Hokage swung his chair back around to face the blonde with a serious and stern expression on his face, "The village is named Otogakure, and as of recent they sent word that they are dispatching some of their Genin to participate in the exams."

"I'm guessing you want me to find information on the Kage of the village?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

The Third nodded, "Yes. I have an assumption on _whom_ the Kage is but I need to make sure that I'm right."

"Who do you assume it is?"

Sarutobi let a grim yet angered expression fit his face, "Orochimaru."

Tatsu's brows furrowed in anger, "When do I leave?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"In a week's time," he answered. "Until then I advise you to prepare your team for the exams."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." With that said Tatsu shushined out of the Kage's office.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong Naruto?" asked a curious Ino as she sat beside her blonde friend at the infamous Ichiraku Ramen stand.<p>

Naruto looked at his friend with a practiced grin upon his face, "Nothing Ino-chan, I'm just happy to be back in the village."

Giving a slight frown, the platinum blonde furrowed her brows a bit, "You know Naruto, you're a terrible liar."

In response said blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, 'Am I really that easy to read?'

"**No," **Kyuu-chan replied within his mind, **"Some people just know you better than others**."

'I guess that makes sense.' He agreed, 'I can't let her know why I'm bothered though.'

"Ok, ok you got me. I was thinking about the mission me and my team went on." He said dejectedly, "I never knew your first kill could be so troubling." To emphasize the feigned sadness he cast his friend a saddened look.

Ino eyed him suspiciously before accepting his excuse and her own demeanor changed to that of a saddened one, "I know what you mean."

"What happened Ino-chan?" he asked worriedly.

A very somber expression showcased itself upon her facial features, "I…" she hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I used my clan's technique and transferred my conscience into my enemies, giving me full control of his body and mind." She shivered a bit as she continued to speak, "I met to knock him unconscious but I lost control of the jutsu and…and…he sliced his own throat open with one of his kunais…" A couple tears escaped her eyes, "Blood wouldn't stop pouring out of his wound…" A few more tears ran down her cheek.

As if it was natural the blue-eyed teen stood from his stool and wrapped his fellow blonde in a tight embrace from behind, letting his arms rest on her stomach. Ino, although surprised by the simple action, let her hands grip his forearms and she leaned back into his body, allowing her head to rest a fraction below his chest. A small blush appeared on her cheeks as she released a comfortable sigh and allowed her eyes to become half lidded, showing her bliss-like state.

Naruto rested his chin above her head while his eyes remained focused and open. Too many thoughts were running through his mind, specifically the ones involving the hooded man. His words from the most recent encounter and even the ones prior to that were implanted within the blonde's mind like a fresh seed within the earth. _His_ words made the blonde fear for what was to come and though the fear was almost overwhelming, he assured himself that whatever hand the future dealt him…he would be ready.

The Jinchuuriki was driven from his thoughts by Ino, whom said his name from under her breath, "Hm?" he questioned.

"What's really bothering you?" the platinum blonde asked in a soft, almost inaudible tone.

He let a small chuckle escape his lips while he released the Yamanaka from his grasp which she inwardly disapproved of, "It's nothing-"

"Please…tell me," she pleaded. Her eyes had lost the blissful attribute and were now staring at the blonde's marvelous blue sapphires. "I want to help you."

Naruto returned her gaze with a saddened smile, "As much as I want to tell you Ino…I just can't," he answered dejectedly, "What's been on my mind lately…I can't even comprehend myself."

Upon hearing that, the mind walker's expression became downcast and her whole demeanor became melancholic. In the past six months, herself and her fellow blonde had grown rather close thanks to her urge to hang out with him. Aside from cheering her up when she was in the sourest of moods or making her laugh at the simplest of things, the blue-eyed Genin had helped her with her skills in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Generally speaking, he was there for her through thick and thin and due to this fact, Ino had been thinking ever since the boy had left for his mission. The end results of her thinking came to a couple conclusions, one being that she deeply cared for him and that emotion went beyond friend level. The second conclusion was actually a goal, she wanted to ensure the happiness of the teen just as he did and was continuing to do for her.

"Whenever you're ready to tell me what's wrong, I'll be here for you." Ino stated compassionately as she initiated another embrace.

Naruto's eyes soften upon hearing those words and just for a second did his mind relinquish itself of its worries. Automatically did he tighten their embrace and automatically did she snuggle deeper within his chest, trying to obtain a sort of closeness that is near impossible to acquire. Unnoticed by the both of them, Ayame and Teuchi were observing the seen from behind the stand with smiles on their faces.

* * *

><p>Yet another day of training ensued for Team 7 and the three Genin found themselves lying on the grass of the training field, completely exhausted. Though the training was harsh and torturous, major improvements could be seen among the three members. For her part, Sakura's stamina had improved significantly throughout training sessions; no longer would she tire out during the middle of a spar. Her strength has improved leaps and bounds as well, although it's not on par with Naruto or Sasuke, couple that with her talent in chakra control and such acquired strength increases tenfold.<p>

Sasuke's improvements lye in speed and perception; he learned to only use his Shringan as a last resort or for situational purposes. His speed in Taijutsu improved drastically, his strikes were more swift and controlled and he could tie it in well with his Ninjutsu to create devastating combos.

Lastly, Naruto's knowledge of Genjutsu and the ability to extinguish them had improved greatly. Although comparing him to one Kurenai Yūhi would be…well a bad comparison considering she is THE Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, he had learned to perform a load of basic genjutsu coupled along with the more complicated ones. Dispelling them proved easier than performing them which was a surprise to even the blonde himself. No matter how tough or mind altering the Genjutsu was, dispelling them now, opposed to before the training started, was no more difficult than creating a basic illusion.

"I think the three of you are ready." Tatsu said, catching the attention of his three fatigued students. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura haphazardly pushed themselves up from a prone position to a sitting position and gave their sensei a questionable look.

Naruto was the first to question his brother's comment, "Ready for…what exactly?"

The smile upon the older blonde's face only widened, "I think the three of you are ready for the Chunin Exams."

The three Genin's eyes widened in surprise and excitement, "Do you really think so sensei?" Sakura questioned for reassurance.

Tatsu chuckled at the question but answered it nonetheless, "Of course I do, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't meant it." Reaching into the left side of his haori, he pulled out three individual scrolls and handed one to each of his students. "Those scrolls are the enrollment forms for the Chunin exams; all you need to do is sign your name and let me do the rest. But before you do anything, let me say a few things." The blonde sensei walked up to his students and sat down right in front of them, "I'm proud of you three, no matter what anybody says you guys have come a long way." A broad grin formed on his features, "As soon as our squad was formed we became a family and no matter what happens, a family should always remain united." By then end of his little speech all three Genin were displaying and emotion of happiness, whether it be a smile, or in Sasuke's case, a smirk. "One last thing, the exams are not to be taken lightly, whatever happens once you enter… make sure you're prepared for it."

Nodding, the trio looked at each other, looking for confirmation from each other about their readiness for the exams. After a few seconds, the three nodded in acknowledgment and instantly signed the peace of parchment. Rolling the scrolls back up, the Genin returned the forms back to their sensei.

"Alright, I'll turn these in as soon as possible. As for right now training is done for the day, report here tomorrow at the same time for another session." And with that said Tatsu began to walk off to an already noted destination.

"Well…" Naruto began, "I'll see you two tomorrow."

Sasuke, being slightly curious as to where the blonde was going, voiced his question, "Where are you heading off to dobe?"

"Somewhere that may not interest you, teme." Was the Jinchuuriki's only response as he disappeared from the training grounds with his hands deep in his pockets. What he did not see was the worry filled expression of a pinkette, who had her eyes on him throughout the small exchange of words.

Chapter 18 End…

Well here's the latest chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait but college started back up again for me and I've been working nonstop for the past three months so if you guys and ladies can just bear with me, I'll update this story as soon as I can. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one, which is the beginning of the Chunnin Exams.

Next chapter I also being introducing more characters into the story. So stay tuned!

KotovSyndrome signing off….


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